MELBOURNE, 10 November 2026: Stellmann’s founders have personal reasons for caring about slippery floors.
Co-founder Dano Estermann broke his C5 vertebra in a serious accident. Soon after, a close family friend suffered severe head trauma after slipping on a wet staircase. Co-founder Jelmer Stellingwerf’s aunt was badly hurt in a fall at home.
In 2019 the two started Stellmann in Melbourne, with one idea: a slippery floor shouldn’t have to be ripped out to get some grip back.
“I spent months in a halo after breaking my neck, and not long after, a close family friend had a bad head injury from slipping on wet stairs. You don’t forget that,” Estermann said. “Most people think a slippery floor leaves two options: live with it or rip it out. We started Stellmann to give them a third.”
In 2024-25, falls were the most common reason Australians ended up in hospital with an injury. They led to 253,800 hospital stays, 43.4 per cent of all injury hospital stays, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Bathrooms are one of the places it happens. Falls in home bathrooms put Australians aged 65 and over in hospital 8,560 times in 2019-20. Of the specific places in the home that AIHW named, only outdoor areas came up more often.
Stellmann’s clear anti-slip coating goes over your existing tiles or any other surface and is applied by Stellmann Certified Installers, helping you avoid the high cost of replacing your tiles or flooring.
“Not every tile suits a coating, so tell us about your floor first,” Estermann said. “If it’s not right for your tiles, we’ll tell you straight.”
