Coffee Service

Helen Hughes Dulany

1934 · Stainless steel, Bakelite · Modern and Contemporary Art

This striking geometric coffee service is an important work in the short-lived but fascinating career of Helen Hughes Dulany. Based in Chicago, she established a factory to produce her industrially inspired metal and silverware designs in 1931, only to close it permanently in 1936. This set is particular for its dramatic flat planes of unornamented stainless steel and its introduction of Bakelite, an early plastic first used in automobile and electric industries for its heat resistant qualities, into domestic homeware.

Artist

Helen Hughes Dulany

Date

1934

Medium

Stainless steel, Bakelite

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

John C. Waddell Collection, Gift of John C. Waddell, 2001