Kickstart: Gordon Lankton back in the spotlight

Gordon Lankton, who will turn 90 in April, is a plastics industry icon. But he's also made a name for himself in the world of fine art "icons."

Right now a Clinton, Mass., museum is sharing two Lankton-related collections that will fascinate art lovers and plastics historians alike.

Lankton, who bought into injection molder Nypro Inc. in 1962 and helped build it into a global powerhouse, is known for many things. Two are especially cool: a motorcycle trip he took from Germany to Japan in 1956 and his museum-quality collection of Russian icons.

Lankton founded the Museum of Russian Icons to house his icon collection, but it's been closed due to COVID-19.

But it recently reopened with two exhibits: "The Long Way Home: A Photographic Journey With Gordon Lankton" and "Tradition and Opulence: Easter in Imperial Russia."

The first exhibit, on view through Sept. 27, includes photographs and artifacts from the famous motorcycle trip. The second, which is open through Oct. 25, features nearly 200 objects from collectors around the world, including Easter eggs, icons and vintage postcards.

Lankton is a fascinating guy. For more on his background, check out this 2000 profile and this 2013 story written when Nypro was purchased by Jabil Inc.

COVID-19 really has changed everything. From the most basic social interactions to education, health care and travel.

That's how our colleagues at Crain's Chicago Business put it, in a project published July 24 where they share stories about how the first six months of the pandemic have affected Chicagoans and what life is going to look like in the future.

One of the industry leaders quoted has a plastics angle: Matt DellaMaria, senior vice president, investor relations and communications at AptarGroup Inc. The Crystal Lake, Ill.-based company is No. 5 on the most recent ranking of North American injection molders.

DellaMaria's comment: "We've had some fragrance customers who buy fragrance pumps from us come to us with new requests: 'Hey, we're going to switch over to make some antibacterial lotions. We've never done that as a main product. Can you help us?'"

What a difference a week makes. On July 19, we lost power at home when a thunderstorm rolled through the Detroit area. That meant I had to scramble to find a way to shoot and transmit our July 20 Material Insights video without the benefit of electricity or internet service.

Can you tell from the lighting that I shot it with two battery-operated Coleman lanterns? I managed to send it thanks to WiFi from the parking lot of my local public library (which is closed because of the pandemic). Then I stopped at a local park in a neighborhood that had power to recharge my laptop.

Today's Material Insights was back to normal, and I definitely like it better with working utilities.

Rhoda Miel is taking some well-deserved days off, so today's Kickstart is by Plastics News Editor Don Loepp. Follow me on Twitter @donloepp.