Vintage 1930's Machine Age Art Deco Micarta tray designed by Donald Dohner for Westinghouse Corporation. Good condition, large black Micarta tray with inlaid anodized aluminum. Serious Machine Age Art Deco design on relatively rare black. Exhibits surface wear that is normally seen for these, a great original example. Molded W Micarta mark, circa 1932. Dohner was director of art for Westinghouse's engineering department, circa 1932 and conceived the first non-Industrial uses for Micarta, which was previously used for electrical component insulation. Other than this tray, his work is rare and ground-breaking American industrial applied art, in the manner of Winold Reiss. Micarta was a proprietary formulation produced by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, Pittsburgh, PA, in response to other phenolic successes such as Bakelite, Catalin, Plaskon, Perspex, etc. Conceived to withstand staining from alcohol, tobacco and other substances. Micarta was contemporaneous with Toledo scales development of Plaskon for decorative purposes in the early 1930s and provided an alternative to the other phenolics such as the more familiar bakelite and catalin. These trays were occasionally included with a purchase of Westinghouse appliances in the 1930s.
