This pillow is made from a European vintage grain/flour sack.
The sack has been opened and patches were removed. It was then boiled in soap water for hours to get out stains, left-over grains and flour.
Then all the little the patches were re-attached.
The linen is extremely soft to the touch unlike some scratchy linen from Eastern Europe such as Hungary.
In 1903 this sack belonged to a Mr. Donatus Wenzel. He lived in Emerkingen, a municipality in the district of Alb-Donau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. (see image of sack in picture gallery)
Linen farm sacks were handwoven mostly in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
Harvesting flax and combing it to remove the straw pieces took many, many hours. Afterwards, women and children were usually spinning the flax, men did the weaving. Tar paint was used to stamp names or initials and symbols of guilds to easily identify the owner of the sack when it was sent to or picked up from the local mill. Numbers and dates were stamped for inventory purposes. Since sacks were so valuable, they were patched up and repaired over and over again.
The silver lapel pin on the right upper corner of each pillow is our seal of authenticity.
Our pillows are made by real tailors with an eye for detail. Our zippers are hidden.
We use feather inserts that are slightly bigger than the cover to make sure the pillows keep their shape and the corners are filled properly.
The back of this pillow is also made from modern linen.
The piping is made of brown, distressed-look vegan leather, so you can actually wash the pillow case.
To learn how we make these pillows here in Brooklyn, NY, watch this video on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/206715925
We take pride in producing in New York City, using local tailors and paying them 200% of the common wage.
Only US made accessories are being used.
We are proud to be part of a group that:
Reclaims
Restores
Repurposes
Restyles existing materials.