Something old something new

Cathy Le Feuvre visits a new business with links back to Jersey’s heritage and history

Walking into the Jersey Skin shop is like strolling back into the past. In the corner there’s an old barrel into which has been mounted a copper bachîn, a traditional Jersey bowl, and on wooden shelving there are products bearing names in the Island’s traditional language, Jèrriais. There’s an old fireplace, which was discovered behind a wall, and tiles that give a hint of the shop’s history.

Number 11 The Parade is a former leather shoe shop, and before that it was a butcher’s shop … which is ironic really, given that today it’s home to a business that creates and sells vegan products.

Benjamin Martin, the founder of Jersey Skin, is passionate about his products – cosmetic and personal care items all made from local ingredients – as well as his Island home, its heritage and history. Jersey Skin was born during the first Covid lockdown when Benjamin found himself in isolation. A trained actor, he was working in stage management in London and Europe when lockdown hit in March 2020. Not knowing when theatre would reopen and while isolating at the family home in Gorey, Benjamin began thinking about and then creating his own cosmetics.

‘I’ve always had a passion for cosmetics. I’ve got incredibly difficult skin – I’m allergic to pretty much everything, anything chemical. I used to really struggle buying products for myself and I went vegan about five years ago, before it was as commercialised as it is now, and finding a cruelty-free vegan product was very difficult. So I had started making my own products.’ With some basic ingredients and distillery sets ordered online he began ‘playing around’ and created first pillow mists and moisturisers. His mother has a background in science so she got involved, they started researching elements to see what would work and what they could grow in the family garden, and then distil to make the products.

By September 2020 trading had begun online and today Jersey Skin personal care products can be found on shop shelves across the Island.

In May 2021 Benjamin opened the Jersey Skin shop in the Parade where he and business supervisor Suki Cartwright meet customers and sell an everexpanding range of products. Behind the shop, there’s a small modern workshop where many of the products are created.

Determined that Jersey Skin would reflect his ethical lifestyle, Benjamin’s products are 100 percent vegan apart from a couple of items that use beeswax sourced from various beekeepers across the Island.

“I wanted to come up with a name which

locals could associate with and be proud of. But I always wanted it to be lovely for tourists... something a little bit different to take home

With the help of his parents, Jane and Fraser, the business grew rapidly – mostly using plants grown in the family garden like geranium, bay leaf, lemon verbena, rosemary, seven types of mint and some lavender. Benjamin also sources more lavender from the Jersey Lavender Farm and some products contain a specific species of seaweed, vraic collected at low tide in springtime just off Mont Orgueil Castle.

‘We’re developing more products with seaweed. At the moment it’s in our shower bar, our shampoo bars, the foot scrub and the foot cream. Seaweed is technically a superfood, it’s got amazing properties in it, so it’s something that we’re going to expand on,’ Benjamin says.

Benjamin has many ambitions for his fledgling business and the name Jersey Skin is central to that.

‘I wanted to come up with a name which locals could associate with and be proud of. But I always wanted it to be lovely for tourists, something a little bit different to take home,’ he said.

Links with the Island’s history is important too, which is why many of the Jersey Skin products have Jèrriais names. ‘We have Brachi Bath Salts, brachi means ‘to brew’ in Jèrriais. We have Moin Lave – handwash. And Matin Citrus which is made from our lemon verbena. We also use local landmarks and locations. Our lavender range is called Bonne Nuit – good night!’

Benjamin is constantly developing new products – his bath bombs took nine months to perfect and he’s creating beautiful hamper boxes. He’s involved in every aspect of the business from the products to the packaging and the historic ambience of the shop, but he’s determined that Jersey Skin will have a wider impact.

Eventually, Benjamin would love to create a Jersey Skin ‘experience’ for locals and visitors, the sort of location that once existed at the former Jersey Pottery near his family home in Gorey, which he hopes might help reimagine Jersey’s reputation further afield.

‘It’s hugely important. We’ve lost some of our farming, we’ve lost a lot of our hotels and as a Jersey boy I would worry that Jersey would soon fall off the map. I’d love to be able to help put it back on the map for something that is very local, made locally, by local people. Something we can be really proud of. If people come to Jersey, and we have had a few come in already, and they tell people about us when they go home, then I’ve done my job.’

Pictures by Becky Lee Brun

To find out more about Jersey Skin and to buy online go to www.jerseyskin.com