A BEAUTIFUL SLEEP
NATURALMAT HAS BEEN MAKING ECO-FRIENDLY MATTRESSES, TOPPERS, BEDS AND BEDDING FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS – WE TAKE A CLOSER LOOK
FOUNDED in 1999 by Mark Tremlett and his business partner Peter Tindall after they spotted a gap in the market for mattresses made from organic, sustainable materials, Naturalmat, which is based on the banks of the river Exe in Devon, is justifiably proud of its past – and present – innovations.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
The son of a boat designer and builder, Mark has long been a keen sailor but struggled to understand the poor quality mattresses installed on yachts – they were £30 pieces of foam on boats worth many millions. So Mark and Peter began putting together yacht mattress prototypes on Mark’s old table tennis table. The aim was to focus on breathable, natural fibres as an alternative to the synthetic materials typically used.
Devon is known for sheep farming and there is an abundance of local wool on hand. From the outset, they wanted to use natural ingredients – organic lambswool and cashmere, natural mohair, natural latex and organic cotton – to fill beds, headboards, mattresses, pillows and toppers to make the end product more breathable and self-ventilating.
THE NATURAL WAY TO SLEEP
One of the founding principles of Naturalmat is that the sleeping experience can be improved greatly by choosing natural fibres. The use of synthetic materials in mattresses has been found to cause an artificial build-up of heat around the body leading to overheating, which is one of the primary causes of sleep disturbance and all-round discomfort in bed.
Wool lies at the core of the business, which supports local farmers recognised by the Uk-based Soil Association or the GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard). Coconuts from a certified organic plantation in Sri Lanka form another crucial ingredient, with every part of the tree utilised. After picking and de-husking the coconut for food or copra, the by-product (known as coir) is what is used in place of, or alongside, metal springs to provide ventilation and bounce to a mattress.
Having established a market for adult-sized beds and mattresses, Mark began to look at what babies were sleeping on – the answer was mostly polyurethane foam wrapped in non-breathable plastic. Mark’s team set out to make mattresses for the nursery sector and the results were an almost instant hit. Within two years, 80 per cent of Naturalmat’s sales came from the nursery market and the collection fuelled the early growth of the company. Naturalmat USA was established in 2008 and focuses on mattresses and bedding for cribs and children’s beds. Everything is made by hand in Devon and shipped to the USA and elsewhere in the world.
01392 877247; naturalmat.co.uk