E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The company, established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), began with the production of gunpowder. Throughout the 1900s and 1910s, the company shifted its focus away from gunpowder production and towards chemistry innovations. By 1926 the company officially dissolved the powder production unit, although it had already been inactive for many years.

Chemists at DuPont’s Parlin, New Jersey laboratory produced a pyroxylin lacquer in 1920. It was durable, dried quickly and could be colored. DuPont sold it under the name Viscolac. In collaboration with General Motors, DuPont improved it and renamed it Duco. It was used extensively in the automotive industry. In the late 1920s Dulux was developed, which was an alkyd finish and had a higher gloss finish; a matte version of Dulux was also developed.