The story of Jesmonite – from small beginnings to worldwide recognition

It has been an incredible journey!

Jesmonite is sold across the world and is used by millions of people to make exciting products – from jewellery to tables to building facades.

But our story began small, in 1984 our original compound was invented in the UK by Peter Hawkins.

That original compound was an acrylic-modified gypsum composite which is still sold and remains extremely popular to this day.

It was conceived as a safe alternative to fibreglass (GRP) and as a lightweight alternative to cast concrete.

Our product range expanded along with an increasing number of ways in which Jesmonite could be used, to the point where more and more people are today still learning about and turning to Jesmonite as their go-to choice of material – supported by our ever-growing list of international distributors.

Milestone moments

These are just some of our achievements and notable projects, along with other more recent milestone moments!

2015 – P&O launched its 5-star hotel-at-sea cruise ship, complete with 6,000 pieces of wall art made from Jesmonite AC100.

2015 – The King of Bahrain’s private residential palace is kitted out with Jesmonite AC730. It was used to create the Corinthian columns, pilasters, cornices, friezes, balusters, window and door surrounds and other ornate features.

2018 – HSBC unveiled its new British headquarters in Birmingham, with a stunning reception feature wall made with the help of Jesmonite.

2019 – Legoland opened its Haunted House Monster Party. The project had to be created to precise specifications and GH Leisure, based in Salisbury, decided that Jesmonite AC100 was the perfect fit. Jesmonite was used for all the detail around the windows, the porch above the front door and on the underside of the windows at the top of the house – 17 windows in total. Decals were added as a nice finishing touch to the top of the building.

2019 – We launched our starter kits with an initial batch of 1,000 on August 19th. We knew there was a market for them and thought they would prove popular – but we really couldn’t have imagined just how popular they would become!

2019 – Saga luxury cruise ship The Spirit of Discovery set sail on its maiden voyage, featuring a magnificent ‘bronze’ atrium artistic feature. Moulds for the panels were constructed which, when cast in Jesmonite, were assembled onto aluminium frames to create the finished piece over 12m high.

2019 – The Tate Modern in London hosted an inspirational exhibit – a 13.5-metre tall fountain called the Fons Americanus, conceived by renowned American artist Kara Walker and created with the help of Jesmonite.

2020 – Covid-19 lockdown resulted in a boost in the craft market as people looked for ways to keep themselves occupied. Sales of Jesmonite starter kits boomed.

2020 – We were involved in a huge project at the Dubai Expo. A total of 14 of the pavilions were made from Jesmonite.

2020 – Jesmonite now had 38 international distributors, including new ventures in Canada, Greece, Singapore, and Korea.

2021 – Over the course of the year we welcomed new distributors in India, Italy, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Lithuania, Turkey, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Canada.

2021 – The first Jesmonite store in the world opened in Spain.

2021 – Sculptor Nic Dutton, renowned for his work in clay at Madame Tussauds, creates a series of eye-catching celebrity sculptures, including Stephen Fry, Steve McQueen, Kate Moss and Debbie Harry.

2021 – Jesmonite was now selling 900 starter kits on average every month and launched a special Jesmonite Christmas starter kit.

2022 – Jesmonite won the Queen’s Award for International Trade.

2022 – New Jesmonite distributors joined the team from Belgium, France, Palestine, Thailand, Ukraine, Malta, Vietnam, Switzerland, Malaysia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Ghana and Nigeria.

2023 – Jesmonite now has 75 international distributors . . . and counting!

2023 – We launched our new European hub in Belgium – making it easier to order and deliver Jesmonite across the continent.

2023 – We are involved in our largest Jesmonite cladding project to date – the Project Light Canada Water multi-phased dockside regeneration in Southwark, London – watch this space and our social media channels for updates on this one!

What an incredible 39 years it has been so far… we would like to say a huge thank you to all our distributors and customers for making Jesmonite what it is today, here’s to the next chapter!