Back in the day, many manufacturers made and sold versions of glitter laminate. Materials historian Grace Jeffers says that the design was pioneered by Formica — they launched the industry’s first glitter-embedded laminate, “White Sequin,” in 1957. Other laminate companies jumped on the bandwagon and soon enough, versatile and pleasing real-glitter sparkles were covering millions (surely) of countertops across America. Today — a look at a boatload of samples of glitter laminate from personal collection and from our Retro Renovation archives, which together comprise our new “catalog” of the various names for this design… and which includes glitter on plain white and colored papers and later, glitter inclusions applied onto more complex paper designs for even more atomic effects. So far we have found 40 42 examples from companies including Formica, Wilsonart, Textolite and Nevamar.
The names for basic glitter laminate on white:
Formica called it White Sequin — The first sample shown above is a paper reproduction; the ‘glitter’ is ink — not the real deal, a cheaper way to show samples, I presume. I included it to show the graphics and the name — we can guess it’s from 1960 because of the “1-60” printed on the sample. This was just three years after introduction. The second sample is the real melamine-topped Formica White Glitter as it would have been installed on a countertop — you can see the real glitter shining through. Oopsy, my melamine chip originally had printing on it — the logo and pattern name. I made the mistake of aggressively cleaning it with a vintage cleaner I bought on ebay — without testing first — and the cleaner took the inky text right off. You can see the shadowy remainder of a different, later-era (1990s, I believe) Formica logo. Drats. The chip seems otherwise fine, though… Hereforeto — no more cleaning of my vintage laminate hoard, except for soft dusting.
Thank you, Robert, of ElectraChime — he sent me a bunch of these Formica samples — including all the paper samples I show here — for the permanent Retro Renovation collection! I greatly appreciate it!
Above: Textolite called it “White Gold”. Textolite was a General Electric (GE) brand.
Missing from our archive: Wilsonart called it “White Glitter.” Grace Jeffers says that Wilsonart later named it “Lamé.” I am sure they must have had one (see below, when I show all their Glitter on colored papers.)
Above: Arborite called it G.G. on Snow White. I don’t know what G.G. stands for. Grace Jeffers confirmed that G.G. stood for Golden Glitter. Arborite — a Canadian company now owned by Pionite correction: Wilsonart — was the last company to offer glitter laminate — I believe they offered it into the early 2000s — that’s when I obtained this sample from a local store.
Companies that existed back in the day and which may have had glitter laminates:
- Formica
- Wilson Art (now Wilsonart)
- Textolite
- Micarta (the brand of Westinghouse, which in 1979 was still expanding production)
- Consoweld
- Pionite
- Nevamar
- Panelyte
- Arborite (Canadian company, I think)
- … there may be more.
- See this story for the names of all companies selling laminates in the U.S. today.
Good news: Where to buy glitter laminate now being made again:
Now, let’s look at the different “simple glitter” collections and some of their color options. Again, this is not necessarily a complete list — these are just the samples I have in my personal collection and from a big story in 2012.
Formica Sequin in at least four colors:
I have Formica Sequin paper samples in four colors:
Wilsonart’s Glitter laminate in at least 12 colors:
Not from my collection, but from this story we did in 2013 showing a supernova constellation of Wilsonart Glitter colors… They were being sold as key chains for $10 each, and as soon as I published the story, readers snapped ’em up:
- Aqua glitter laminate
- Beige glitter laminate
- Charcoal glitter laminate
- Cocoa glitter laminate
- Coppertone glitter laminate
- Flame glitter laminate
- Frosty pink glitter laminate
- Powder blue glitter laminate
- Pumpkin glitter laminate
- Red glitter laminate
- Wintergreen glitter laminate
Textolite’s Gold came in… how many colors?
- Surely Textolite must have offered this laminate in more than just the plain White Gold. Alas, my sample collection only includes this one colorway.
Formica’s Silversnow Laminate came in at least four colorways:
Oooh, in 1960 — again, just three years after Formica introduced its gold-flecked “Sequin”, it also had introduced a glitter design with denser, smaller, silver flecks — they called it Silversnow. Perhaps the inclusions are mica, rather than glitter? I have four paper sample chips:
Glitter Laminates with deco paper with designs
Formica’s Spindrift came in at least two colors:
Formica’s Spindrift also was in my batch of samples that I date to 1960. It features two additional elements printed on the paper underneath — smudgy-veining + whisperthin cracking-veining. From my paper collection:
- White Spindrift
- Light Aqua Spindrift
Wilsonart’s Satellite laminate came in at least six colors:
Wilsonart’s Satellite was glitter over paper with one additional element, subtle smudgy-veining:
- Beige gold satellite laminate
- Aqua gold satellite laminate
- Frosty pink gold satellite laminate
- Powder blue satellite laminate
- Primrose gold satellite laminate
- White gold satellite laminate
Textolite’s Spungold design came in at least two colors:
The smudgy-veining in my Textolite chips looks strong, more powerful than the Wilsonart’s shown above. I have it in two colorways:
Textolite’s Nugget came in at least two colorways:
Glitter on simple starbursts, nom nom. These samples — which came along with all the melamine samples — were on paper. I speculate: Brand-spanking new, so tucked in, pronto, even before pressed samples were available. Only two colorways on my sample chain:
Textolite’s Twilight came in at least six colorways:
Twilight featured gold or silver glitter — the glitter was not real chunky — over paper that was pretty highly veined. However, I would say that the veining was not realistic, it was stylized… abstract, even. As if to say, “We’re only kinda sorta pretending to mimic marble — this is laminate, after all, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise.”
- Textolite Golden Beige Twilight laminate features two shades of beige veining with gold glitter on top.
- Textolite Silver Gray Twilight laminate features two shades of gray veining with silver glitter.
- Textolite Primrose Twilight laminate, two shades of yellow, gold glitter.
- Textolite Dusty Pink Twilight laminate, two shades of pink, gold glitter.
- Textolight Aqua Twilight laminate, Aqua and green veining, silver glitter.
- Textolite Lavender Twilight laminate, lavender and taupe veining, silver glitter.
Nevamar’s Flair came in at least two colorways:
Above: A pink “Carnation Flair”.
And above: A more neutral Beige Flair.
So there you go. Did your eyes pop out of your head? Did your greedy retro-loving hearts cry, “Gimme! Gimme!”?
Pam Zirbel says
I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE the Frosty Pink Glitter!!! But if they would use silver glitter in it!!! That is so incredibly gorgeous…I cant stand it!!! Are these countertops still being produced? We are moving from and 1842 one room school house converted back in 1940’s and have a yellow marble like countertop and just bought a house from 1870!!! The counters are a pink marble and white metal cabinets, will keep them, redo them of course but i would die for this Frosty Pink top!!! So again, is this still in production or do yas know of a place I could purchase this from? Thanks loads!!!
pam kueber says
not in production…
Pam Zirbel says
NO WAY!!!! WJHY YA TEASIN!!?? UGH!! I have been looking for sinks n everyone knows the value and how popular they are!! Good thing there is a restore by our new house!!
LauraC says
I have the Gold Nugget on my kitchen counters and absolutely love it. House was built in 1964 and the counters are in almost perfect condition. I use Jubilee Kitchen Wax and plenty of Corningware Counter Savers to keep them that way.
George K. says
I moved into a 1966 General Electric “Live Better Electrically” house 5 years ago. All the original bronze appliances were in place. The refrigerator was promised to the seller’s granddaughter. I had to replace the dishwasher and wall oven since (with stainless) but still use the 4-burner countertop range with bronze 24-button hood. I just now discovered that my countertop was also made by GE—Golden Beige Twilight! (My kitchen cabinets are the same style as those in the mansion on “The Beverly Hillbillies”. I noticed them in a 1966 episode.)
pam kueber says
Cool! Yes, GE was into many products back in the day — the Textolite laminate surely was an outgrowth of GE Plastics, which was based in the town right next to mine, Pittsfield, Mass.! My whole area — Berkshire County, Mass. — was a mecca for businesses related to laminate design and production. A few companies still remain….
Midge Brock says
Thank you for posting these laminate samples! It’s great to find out that ours is “Light Aqua Spindrift” by Formica. I’m especially glad to find out that the “veining” was intentional -at first, I thought, there was hairline cracks in the surface. Other than Jubilee kitchen wax, does anyone know of a way to better protect and enhance the shine? -Jubilee works, but I’d like something that is longer lasting, as I want to keep my counters as nice as possible, but it seems that 53 years of use has made them a bit prone to staining.
pam kueber says
I am not sure there is really anything better to use to keep up the shine. That said, Grace Jeffers emailed me that she had another hot tip. I am seeing her next week and will report back!
Joe Felice says
I remember seeing the GE glitters in all colors in people’s houses back then. The twighlights were also hugely popular. I always thought it was supposed to provide the look of marble. My first house had Silver Gray Twighlight, although I never really liked it. This color person found it boring. But the brown, yellow and avocado colors that the previous owners used made up for that. (Not my favorites, either.) Seems to me Wilsonart’s Flame Glitter was popular even into the ’70s.
J D Log says
Panelyte in Australia also produced sparkle laminate. I have a colour advert for it somewhere I can try and dig it up and email a copy of it if you want. I am pretty sure it was under licence from America
pam kueber says
I would LOVE to add this to the collection! Thank you!
J D Log says
Hi Pam have sent emailed copies of 3 different sparkley Panelyte adverts hope you got them as well as details of Kirby steel kitchens
pam kueber says
Got it! Thank you, JD!
midmichigan says
I really don’t know why at least one major manufacturer won’t produce just one gold fleck laminate from the ‘60s. I’m sure there are many “slow movers” in their line that could be replaced by it.
I’m older but I took the plunge and learned Twitter and now follow the Formica Group (and RR of course). I gave them some input for a gold flecked laminate. Maybe we could put in some group Tweets into all the manufacturers. Who knows?
Jeanne says
My kitchen counter & backsplash is Formica White Spindrift! Thanks for helping me figure that out! We have a cape cod built in ’38 so I know it isn’t original. It goes well with red & cream painted cupboards & the black & white VCT flooring we just had installed. Thanks to your website I discovered VCT and am soooo happy with my beautiful little kitchen!
Carrie says
Great post, now I know that my 1951 house has Texolite white spungold counters and golden beige twilight floors in the kitchen!
Jennifer says
My 14-year-old inner self saw that blue-green Textolite “Aqua Twilight” and possessed my vocal tract……”oooooooooooooh”
Maria says
I did the exact same thing with the pink