Eugena's Creations

History of Polymer Clay

Going through my old files, I found this short article I compiled for my beginners class a while ago:

"History of polymer clay begins in Germany, in the late 1930s, when an enterprising woman named Fifi Rehbinder developed and marketed a clay product, which she called Fifi Mosaik, to use for doll heads. In 1964 she sold the formula to Eberhard Faber who developed it into the Fimo we know today.

At the same time, other manufacturers were making products similar to Fimo. Monica Resta from Italy used a form of the clay called LIMMO in Argentina in the late 1950s. It was also manufactured by a German company, but not Eberhard Faber. The manufacturer could have been Rudolf Reiser, who makes Formello and Modello, but there is no clear trail.

In those early days the clay was used for dolls, modelling and miniatures for doll houses. As it gained a wider audience, it was sold in toy stores. Pier Voulkos, for one, purchased Fimo from a toy store in Germany in 1970. Tory Hughes, who lived in Europe as a child, also discovered Fimo there, and Kathleen Dustin was introduced to Fimo while she was attending college overseas..." Read More