Remembering Jorge Caicedo, artist and designer

New Fairfield, CT (January 14, 2025). We are saddened to report the loss of Jorge Caicedo, a remarkable artist and revered member of our Bakelite family. He passed away on January 7, 2025.

Mr. Caicedo appeared in Hugh Karraker and John Maher’s film All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic, revealing his unique perspective on the magical properties of Bakelite. An internationally acclaimed designer, he created highly-prized works of art and jewelry from the world’s first totally synthetic plastic. He called Bakelite “a miracle”.

Jorge Caicedo Montes De Oca was born in Columbia, South America where he studied sculpture, silversmithing and stage design at the School of Fine Arts in Bogota. 

After continuing his studies in sculpture at the Art Students League in New York, he began his career designing and manufacturing his own line of furniture and art objects. Then he discovered Bakelite and as he said, “It was love at first sight. It has volume, weight… is warm, smooth and delicious. When color, shape, line come together, it’s the perfect piece. Voila!” 

With his wife and collaborator Piedad Ceballos, Mr. Caicedo created a contemporary line of jewelry from rare and original 1930’s-50’s Bakelite that they acquired from closed factories. His original creations are limited editions that capture and re-interpret the style of the Deco-era. 

They are found all over the world in high-end fashion and jewelry boutiques, collections, galleries, and museum exhibitions. His pieces have been sold in the designers’ store at the Museum of Modem Art in New York, as well as in the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art. 

At least 24 of his pieces belong to the Costume Institute Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  In recent years, his work became more widely exposed and available through his website, The Art of Bakelite. 

Marc Huberman, President of The L.H. Baekeland Project, the legacy organization founded by the late Hugh Karraker, said that Mr. Caicedo was a beloved friend and would be sorely missed. 

Mr. Karraker would often visit the artist in his New York studio, and they appeared together at several exhibitions and seminars about Bakelite. “He was a true artist,” Mr. Huberman said. “He saw something in raw Bakelite that none of us could see and created expressions of lasting beauty for all of us to cherish.” 

For more on the artist Jorge Caicedo and Bakelite, see the feature film All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic and the short film The Art of Bakelite.

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