British Wool with Naturalmat
Wool Month is in full swing! Organised each year by the Campaign for Wool, we get the pleasure of celebrating the farmers, spinners, weavers and designers who put this wonderful fibre to good use. Continuing in our theme of celebrating Throws this October, we have a rather special project to show you.
We're excited to introduce a new collaboration with Naturalmat, the Devon-based sustainable bed makers. Together, we've created two bespoke wool throws, the striped Vale throw and the patchwork Acres throw, both woven using 100% British wool.
For years, we've woven our fabrics at the same Lancashire mill used by Naturalmat for their organic cotton and wool mattress ticking. Two workshops, one shared address, and a mutual passion for natural fibres made a collaborative throw feel like the obvious next step.
Introducing Naturalmat…
Naturalmat have been handcrafting natural mattresses and bedding from their workshop on the banks of the River Exe in Devon since 1999. Every mattress, bed and piece of bedding is made under one roof, by hand, using only natural and organic materials. Wool, cashmere, mohair, cotton are used in place of synthetic foams and fillings. Much of their wool is sourced from certified organic farms within fifty miles of the workshop, a level of care that runs through everything they make. They've built their name on the same principles we hold dear: natural materials, considered sourcing, and a preference for doing things slowly and properly.
This considered approach has earned them recognition as the first bed and mattress company in the UK to become B Corp certified. They were recently awarded the King's Award for Enterprise in Sustainability, following an earlier Queen's Award for Sustainable Development. Their beds can now be found in hotels around the world, including Six Senses and The Hoxton, as well as in bespoke commissions with leading interior designers. It's a slower, more considered way of doing business, and one we related to straight away.
A mutual love for British Wool
Naturalmat share our belief in working with natural materials, supporting UK farming and industry, and using the same specialist mill we've relied on for years. But what we're proudest of is the story behind the wool itself.
Both throws also carry Wooltrace labels, with their own QR code on the product tag. Scan it, and you can trace the wool back to the very farm the fleece came from, a small detail, but one we think matters.
Every fleece begins its journey at the British Wool Depot in Bradford, before travelling under fifty miles to Laxtons in Yorkshire, where it's spun into yarn. From there, it travels a further twenty-five to thirty miles to Mitchell Interflex in Lancashire, our long-standing weaving partner, where the throws are woven. The unfinished fabric then makes a round trip of three hundred miles to Galashiels in the Scottish Borders for finishing, before returning to be processed by our Workroom Team at the mill. From sheep to finished throw, the entire journey stays within the UK.
