For a long time Quillan's pride and joy was the hat and Formica.
In France, it was at Quillan in the Aude region that the Formica factory was set up at the very beginning of the 1950s, in place of a hat shop, which was then in decline, with the staff being maintained and trained for the new activity.
Then the Formica factory in Quillan grew so fast that the brand became the economic and social engine of the whole region.
Formica is a material invented in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, initially used as an electrical insulator instead of "mica".
The name is aptly named "for" (for, instead of) "mica".
In France, it arrived with the Americans, along with nylon and chewing gum.
The "Formica laminated plastic" is an assembly of sheets of kraft paper that are impregnated with synthetic resin, a polymerization phenomenon that does the rest.
From this we obtain sheets of Formica that are placed on the piece of furniture or object we want to make.
With the oil shock of the early 70s, the price of resins exploded and the price of Formica also, the decline was felt in the mid-70s and a social plan was implemented every two years.
The death of the plant was announced on December 5, 2003. It marked the beginning of the difficult discussions of the social plan for the inter-union and the reconversion of the 149 employees.
On June 30, 2004, the last machines from the Quillan plant were loaded into the removal trucks.
They were leaving for China,
After long weeks of negotiations, the social plan has made it possible to promote the reintegration of the former "Formica".
Today Formica is very much in demand at garage sales and flea markets.
