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The Story of GelGems?

They wiggle a little, they’re made on the stove, they come in all shapes and sizes, and they’re fun for the whole family. We’re not talking about Jello® shapes, we’re shouting about GelGems TM! 

Professional chemists Irene and Alfredo Tubert accidentally created Gel Gems TM while trying to cook up some family fun in their kitchen at home in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

For years, Alfredo had been a developer of adhesives. At home, on their kitchen stove, Alfredo and Irene experimented with a special gel polymer they had created. They found that the gel not only stuck to a variety of surfaces, it could be shaped and colored without limits. In short, this chemical wonder was great fun to play with. 

The Tuberts’ daughters, Cecilia, Andrea and Inés, prompted their parents to create squares, circles, triangles, stars, hearts, paisleys and dozens of other shapes. They stuck them to windows, refrigerators, computer monitors, drinking glasses and bathroom tile, creating spectacular scenes, mosaics and designs. Due to the unique properties of the gel, the shapes removed easily without leaving a mark, then restuck anywhere. 

By the middle of 2000, the enterprising Tubert family was ready to show their neighbors what they had been cooking up. They participated in a local fair, where crowds lined up to buy the gels. Since then, demand has grown so large that production has been moved three times: first from the Tuberts’ kitchen to their garage, then to a small store and finally to a factory. 

Now, GelGems TM are available in the United States exclusively from Design Ideas at specialty retailers nationwide and come in a variety of design-your-own scenes or pre-packaged scenarios sure to get your creative juices flowing.