Soprema

In 1908, Charles Geisen founded the “Alsatian Emulsion Factory”, the forerunner of SOPREMA. During this period, architects were designing large terraces for private villas. Natural asphalt or coal tar was being used as a roofing material. These products were very expensive and not very reliable.

Charles Geisen’s stroke of genius came when he began dipping jute cloth into hot bitumen. The result was a lightweight, solid, strong sheeting which came to be known as MAMMOUTH®.

1909 STRASBOURG, FRANCE:

After his initial discovery that jute cloth dipped in hot bitumen created an easy to install, flexible, waterproofing solution, he named his product the MAMMOUTH membrane, French for “Mammoth”. He also created a loyal customer base by starting the forerunner of the SOPREMA Contracting Division, a group of well trained, experienced installers that are still in existence today.