Hempel A/S

Hempel A/Sis a global supplier of coatings and paints in the protective, marine, decorative, container and yacht industries. Fully owned by the Hempel Foundation, the company was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1915.

History

Hempel was founded by Jørgen Christian Hempel (1894 – 30 January 1986) in July 1915, when he established Hempel’s Marine Paints Ltd. (J.C. Hempel’s Skibsfarve–Fabrik A/S), a marine paint wholesaler. The following year he set up his own paint mixing factory.

In 1917, Hempel collaborated with the Technical University of Denmark, to develop Hempel’s first antifouling coating for ships’ hulls.

Hempel established its first factory in the United States in 1951, and opened an office in Hong Kong in 1963. In the 1960s, the company began to produce decorative coatings for the Middle East, and it opened its first factory in the region, in Kuwait, in 1966.

In the 1970s, Hempel established a protective coatings division to develop and produce coatings for the industrial market, such as power generation and infrastructure. Hempel was one of the first coatings companies to focus on renewable energies and it supplied coatings to the first commercial wind farm in 1980.

J.C. Hempel died in 1986, 91 years of age.