By Jodie Nesling
Margate natural beauty business Haeckels has moved its production line into the former Genting casino.
The 15,000 square foot premises will also house new initiatives including laboratories, growing rooms, making areas, edit suites, recording suites, beehives, offices, meeting areas, a beauty academy and a skincare/fragrance school.
They will also offer a fully functional kitchen for a restaurant residency and are particularly interested in vegan offerings.
Haeckels was formed in 2012 by Margate resident, beach warden and coastal enthusiast Dom Bridges who wanted to harvest the seaweed found in abundance on the isle coastline.
When Haeckels was just starting out Dom would collect seaweed and local botanicals along the Margate coast and bring them bring back to his family kitchen to experiment. Dom’s wife Jo soon said it was time to get a proper lab and turn a passion into a business.
Dom acquired the Lab on Cliff Terrace in 2013 where more product formulas were developed to complete the range. The business has since gone global with an emphasis on innovative, natural skin care and sustainability.
The aim was to to enthuse people about the health-giving properties of the sea and to raise awareness about natural products that are as effective as chemical-derived alternatives.
The Margate shop on Cliff Terrace has a treatment room with further branches in Hackney. Products are sold worldwide and Haeckels is opening up in the Maldives, with a supply chain soon to follow in Sri Lanka – travel restrictions pending.
In another ode to Margate’s heritage the entrepreneur created a sauna housed in a sea bathing machine which was used by the community for free at Margate Main Sands until it was moved to Walpole Bay.
The new HQ on Zion place will be open to the public.
Find Haeckels online at https://haeckels.co.uk/
Great news for a margate success story and great use of the building. Good luck
this seems to be an excelllent idea for thanet , as looking around i notice more and more local women that are in desperate need of this kind of makeover and therapy
And men too, me included!
Well done Dom.
Cos I suppose you are a Chippendale hunk C Gull? you should not judge others as you see yourself
The rapacious gentrification of Margate and Cliftonville continues. Feels a bit tone deaf, to be honest
Mr C Gull – you have obviously missed me!!!
Pleased to hear about this enterprise and wish them all success. Plenty of seaweed to collect around Minnis Bay no doubt.