Not on display

Ekco AC 86

Radio
1935 (designed)
Artist/Maker
EKCO (manufacturer)
Chermayeff, Serge (designer)
Place of origin
Southend on Sea (manufactured)

Radio set in bakelite cabinet with two circular apertures, one containing the speaker and the other containing the tuning dial

Object details

Categories
Household Objects
Entertainment & Leisure
Plastic
Audio Equipment
Electrical Appliances
Product Design
Object type
Radio
TitleEkco AC 86 (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Compression-moulded phenol formaldehyde ('bakelite')
Bakelite
Phenolic
Compression Moulding
Brief description
Ekco AC 86 Wireless set, table model in moulded bakelite designed by Serge Chermayeff, 1935
Physical description
Radio set in bakelite cabinet with two circular apertures, one containing the speaker and the other containing the tuning dial
Dimensions
  • Width: 559mm
  • Height: 305mm
  • Depth: 216mm
Dimensions taken from the Radiomuseum website. https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ekcobelg_ac86.html
Gallery label
(pre October 2000)
EKCO MODEL AC 86
Designed and made by E.K. Cole Ltd., Southend on Sea, Essex, England
5 valves; Bakelite case
1935

A German engineer introduced Ekco to the possibilities of moulded large-scale Bakelite casings in 1930. From 1933, the company made distinctive cabinets featuring large clear tuning dials. This is a companion model to Ekco's revolutionary AD65, a circular set designed by Wells Coates.
Object history
Purchased from David Rush in 1978 [78/193].
Bibliographic reference
p.89 Hawes, Robert, Radio Art (London, 1991)
Collection
Furniture and Woodwork Collection
Accession number
W.15-1978

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Record createdApril 2, 2001
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O58179/ekco-ac-86-radio-chermayeff-serge/
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