It is the 1930s and the telephone industry is witnessing a seismic shift. Manufacturing has graduated from metal to Bakelite. This transition has had a massive impact, drastically shortening production time from about one week to roughly seven minutes.

Transnational companies such as Ericsson are ardently promoting the new material, exporting their plastic models to India, amongst other British colonies.

Bakelite has many glorious years ahead, as it affords a streamlined, sculptural quality to design - as opposed to the engineered look of earlier phones. The material has an even lustre, does not draw moisture and is easy to maintain. However, at present, technical limitations restrict the colour palette to black – and coloured-plastic telephones are still some years away.