What do a mechanical engineer, an online marketing expert and a travel and tourism graduate have in common? They all want to be official distributors of Jesmonite! Despite never having used the material themselves, Zia Rawther, Santhos Kannan and Shameena Ahmed have become the first official distributors of Jesmonite in the UAE because they know artists and creatives will love it. The team launched ResinArtHub in January 2020 as a one stop shop for all epoxy needs after helping various artists with their online marketing and hearing about their struggles with getting products. And now they’re adding Jesmonite to the range they offer.
Shameena said: “We have got the ability to reach a lot of people via digital channels in the UAE and at the moment it is difficult for people to go to a shop.
“They were asking us for materials suitable to do all sorts of things, such as preserving newborn hair, wedding flowers, etc in resin and also eco-friendly child safe materials to work with, so we were looking around.
“We did not know what Jesmonite was at first but once we looked into it and heard from our customers, we knew it was a great material that is not available in the UAE.
“They are really excited to see it here, they love it because it is a non toxic material, there is not much waste and is eco-friendly, safe for young artists to use it and children in the holiday time too – my 12 year old daughter is very excited to get her hands on it.”
Shameena has a passion for art and did a lot of travelling during her travel and tourism degree days, but does not make Jesmonite products herself. She enjoys creating acrylic and canvas paintings.
“We don’t compete with them, we don’t do workshops, don’t create artifacts and sell them – we just want to enable artists to create their best work by making good quality materials accessible at an affordable price in the UAE,” she added.
“There are lots of artists tired of doing the same things and want to try Jesmonite so this will provide new products for their customers too.
“We think it will breathe some fresh air into this field.”
Zia, a mechanical engineer by trade, is known as the man artists and creatives shopping at ResinArtHub reach out to with any epoxy related technical problems.
“I just love technology,” he said.
“I like dissecting objects, seeing how they work and what makes them tick.
“I also play around with different materials at home with my children, see how things change, if you put two things together, if you tweak the formula… fortunately we have never had any unwelcome surprises so far.
“I also have a love and appreciation for art so I am very excited about Jesmonite and the potential it holds for the diverse art community in the UAE.”
Santhosh said since the business launched the customer base has been fascinating to follow. ResinArtHub has seen over 100% user growth in the first half of this year, increasing every month. Lockdown due to Coronavirus also saw a change in consumer behaviour, with more people becoming comfortable purchasing from local online stores that they have never heard of before. People tend to find ResinArtHub via Google or Instagram – in fact they are sent to the company website just by searching for Jesmonite in the UAE even before they had the material, so the team thought it was the perfect fit. ResinArtHub also stocks epoxy resins, silicone molds, tools, colours, pigments, preservative and pressing equipment for flowers, and much more.
For more information about them visit the website.