Haeckels, named after marine botanist, Ernst Haeckel, was founded in 2012 by Dom Bridges, film maker, volunteer beach warden and Margate resident. The brand initially came about when Dom began experimenting with seaweed and the natural materials he came across on the beach. He began making things on a very small scale in his kitchen, just based around what he needed for himself – simple, natural products that really worked, and which celebrated Margate and its rich botanical resources. Soon after his initial experimentation, Dom’s wife Jo encouraged him to move things to a lab space in Margate, where he built up a team and continued hand crafting the products, but on a larger scale.