Ekco AD-65
Wells Coates’s round Bakelite radio of 1934 – a modernist form that only moulded plastic could give.
In 1932 Ekco invited architects to design radio sets, and the architect Wells Coates drew the round AD-65. The form exploited the fact that Bakelite is moulded and need not follow the straight lines of a wooden cabinet.
The radio was one of the first modernist household appliances in Britain. During the 1930s radio reached more and more homes, and the cabinet became as important as the technology.
Materials: Bakelite, chrome, fabric
Manufacture: Moulded in Bakelite at Ekco’s factory in Southend-on-Sea; the case could be made in one piece.
A completely round case with a semicircular dial.
Brown Bakelite or, more rarely, coloured versions.
The Ekco badge and model number on the back.