Introducing Carlos Dubinovsky

It takes a lot of creativity not to allow water to ruin a good business

The creator of the novel products such as “WET PROOF” started out with nothing.

By Constanza Capdevilla de la Cerda.

Carlos Dubinovsky is one of those people worth listening to. His life is so full of interesting anecdotes and episodes, that his story could become the script for Super- Sales.

At 72 years old, he actively works as General Manager in the company he founded over four decades ago – SHERWOOD PRODUCTS S.A. He also writes stories, paints paintings, plays several musical instruments, elaborates chemical formulas, spends time with his family, and finds time to supervise every one of the details that arise in his working environment.

His most well know achievement is the famous waterproofing agent known as “WET PROOF”, an innovative chemical product that acts as an insulator in materials such as wood, bricks, and cement. Today the term is widely used in the construction business. But it is worth mentioning that it was Dubinovsky himself who, in late night sessions 40 years ago, created this solution that is successfully sold today even in the United States.

Carlos Dubinovsky is the oldest of three offspring of the marriage formed by a Russian Immigrant, Miguel Dubinovsky and the Polish Argentine, Helena Mandel. He was born in Santiago on March 3, 1930, and at a very young age became interested in music and plastic art, which inspired him to begin studying at the National Conservatory at 12 years of age.

For a decade, he studied violin and piano, obtaining outstanding grades, but neuritis in his left arm frustrated the possibility of following his passion. “I was 20 years old, and this disease wiped out my artistic career”, he recalls.

So he had no other alternative than to help his father in the fabric business. Soon he married Ana Taub and he decided to work independently and start his own small business. He purchased a manual loom and set up shop on a downtown street named “Estado”. His workshop was called “Artela” where passersby were able to observe a craftsman patiently weaving tweed in the window.

Thanks to his artistic ability, he developed unusual colors in the fabrics he sold and this attracted the attention of a select clientele.

“I have always focused on quality above all, more than the prices of the products, and I have never let my standards down. I have a certain obsession with quality”, he explains.

He was so successful that his father asked him to return to work in the family business denominated “Industrial Textil Los Alerces”. In the mid fifties, Dubinovsky became more and more specialized in colors. “I worked closely with the industrial dyeworks, where the fabrics were submitted to chemical processes to improve the product”, he makes clear.

This is how he, unwittingly, began to become familiar with the world of chemical products and processes. He decided it was possible to invent a chemical agent that is capable of waterproofing cloth, and he began to experiment with diverse procedures. He did not achieve his goal, but he invented a protector for paper, brick, and wood, among others. He decided to call his new invention “WET PROOF” and he launched it on the market.

Water Against Water

In the sixties, a construction boom was at its height in Chile. With his product, “WET PROOF” in hand, he decided to leave the family business and start his own. The difficult part was convincing the public that his product, which is water based, could actually repel water, by means of a chemical reaction. Another obstacle was the price. Since “WET PROOF” was a sophisticated compound, its price was high.

He started his company “Carlos Dubinovsky Limitada” with which later became “SHERWOOD PRODUCTS S.A.” with two employees and his book of formulas, that he treasures to today.

“WET PROOF has been so successful that most people think it is an imported product”, he adds.

At the start of the 1980’s and due to his fondness for painting, Dubinovsky decided to manufacture his own artistic materials instead of importing them. In this way, he invented a second line of products- “WETCRIL”-, with over 800 types of solutions for the most diverse uses and artistic techniques.

Even today you can find “Don Carlos” as he is called with affection, with the sleeves of his lab coat rolled up, doing research in his small laboratory.

Dubinovsky assures that “he still has a long way to go” and he prefers not to be bothered with the commercial part of his business.

“My son, Daniel is the one in charge of the business. I prefer to create”, he concludes.