Haeckels

Haeckels is a natural fragrance and skin care brand founded in England in 2012. All of their hand crafted products are formulated in their cliff top Lab in Margate where they only use and distill locally growing botanicals that offer the very best anti-oxidant properties. Haeckels holds one of only two licenses in England to harvest seaweed from the English coast. The brand takes great pride in the license and sees it as a responsibility to care for the coastline, to clean it and to monitor it just like any farmer in the world.

The healing powers of seaweed

Hand harvested Seaweed forms the base ingredient of the entire skin care range based on the tradition of Thalassotherapy derived from the Greek word meaning ‘sea’ or ‘ocean’. Thalassotherapy treatments use ocean water, seaweed, ocean mud and marine minerals to treat ailments and enable the body to replenish, remineralise and revitalise to enhance good health for body and mind. All the products are tested on the creators themselves, no animals are being used in the process! Each product is designed to make a complete daily skin care routine.

Thalassotherapy

Thalassotherapy (from the Greek word thalassa, meaning “sea”) is the medical use of seaweed, seawater and shore climate as a form of therapy. Haeckels’ thalasso formulations focus on the use of Bladderwrack. They harvest local bladderwrack from the surrounding chalk reef to make their products because it contains high levels of fucoidan, a potent natural anti-inflammatory, which also helps reduce redness on the skin’s surface. Fucoidan fights aging by helping to maintain collagen levels and promote elasticity in the skin. The nutrients in seaweed help increase pH alkaline levels in the bloodstream, in turn reducing acidity levels in the body and the skin. Seaweed is also an excellent natural source of omega-3 fatty acids that promote healthy skin.

History

Haeckels was founded in 2012 by filmmaker, volunteer beach warden and coastal enthusiast Dom bridges. Disillusioned by the production ethos of many larger skin care companies Dom wanted to create simple hand crafted products that showcased the surrounding coasts natural ingredients in the hope that the products themselves would then promote Margate’s heritage of healthy coastal living. 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 as every saucepan in the kitchen was starting to smell like a skin care product.

Taking his wife’s advice he acquired the Lab on Cliff Terrace in 2013 where more product formulas were developed to complete the range. The company has now grown; taking on members of staff whilst still playing an active part in the local community by organizing beach cleans and taking part in marine conservation surveys. As Haeckels develops over the coming years the heart of the company will always remain the same as it concentrates on craft first in the hope that the products themselves will remind and educate customers of the natural wealth of Margate’s coastline.

Haeckels is available in the Store at Graanmarkt 13 and in our e-shop.