Biosennie - Get to know us

Unbleached linen, Oeko-tex certified – we use it to create the outer pillowcase and accessories. Among the fabrics we wanted to use for our products, we couldn't leave out the king of all natural fabrics, namely linen. It is a natural, biodegradable and ecological material with remarkable properties, as confirmed by research conducted by the Institute of Natural Fibres and Medicinal Plants.

The history of linen is extremely interesting, as it was the first textile material produced by humans – the oldest scraps of linen cloth were found in prehistoric caves in the Caucasus and are estimated to be 38,000 years old. It became really popular in ancient Egypt, where carbon dating has proven that flax was used for clothing as early as 8,000 BC. The Egyptians had a cashless economy in which goods were exchanged for other goods of equivalent value instead of cash. As a material used for everything from everyday clothing to mummy bandages, linen was a fundamental part of this economy. Absorbent and heat-conductive, linen was ideal for the hot Egyptian climate. Even today, the linen cloth used in Egyptian tombs is well preserved.

Two thousand years later, linen was used almost everywhere in the world. The ancient Phoenicians exported linen yarn to Scotland, Persia, India and China. In the colder regions of Europe, linen was used to make shirts and underwear, among other things. Alongside wool, linen became a staple fibre, and its popularity is evidenced by the fact that the words ‘lining’ and ‘lingerie’ are derived from its name (linen - lining - lingerie).

Kapok fibre – constitutes 100% of the filling of the inner pillowcase of the headboard and roller.

When searching for the right filling for our products, we only considered natural materials. We wanted it to be a non-allergenic material (which ruled out wool), breathable, mite-resistant, soft and resilient (so we had to reject all shell fillings). We wanted our products to be cruelty-free and pet-friendly, so we did not even consider down and feathers. And so, kapok fibre, known as kapok for short, took the podium.

Kapok fibre is completely natural and is obtained from hundreds of seed pods of a tropical tree called Ceiba pentandra, commonly known as the kapok tree. This tree can grow up to 70 metres tall and can be found in Mexico (where it was considered sacred by the Maya!), as well as in Java, Africa and Asia. It is also known as Java cotton, ceiba or silk cotton. Kapok fibres are made of lignin and cellulose, are shiny, extremely light, and whitish-yellowish-brown in colour.

The history of kapok is very interesting because, despite having been used before, it only gained popularity thanks to its use in life jackets. The first life jackets were made of cork at the end of the 19th century, but kapok has five times greater buoyancy with less volume, which is why kapok life jackets quickly became standard rescue equipment at the beginning of the 20th century. This remained the case until around 1960, when the natural filling of life jackets was replaced by synthetic filling. Today, it is most commonly found as filling for pillows, mattresses, children's toys and as insulation material.