Pestamel /Peskir

Jennifer herself purchases all cotton threads to ensure that only 100% GOTS certified organic Turkish grown cotton is used by her weavers.

Organic cotton has many benefits over non-organic cotton; it's more absorbent, releases the moisture quicker, has its own innate ability to deal with bacteria, will not go hard or smell musty over time, is easier to clean, healthier for your skin, uses 11x  less water in the growing process, and does not contaminate the soil or those that still hand-pick it in Türkiye.

Pieces will last 4-5 times longer than those made with non-organic threads and will be more enjoyable to use during their extended life.

Woven into the fabric of human history for millennia, linen is valued for antibacterial and stain resistant attributes, natural durability and lustre.

Harvested from flax plants in Türkiye, it requires less than half the water of non-organic cotton.  Mother Nature's wicking fibre, it is even more absorbent, sheds moisture quicker and lasts twice as long than even organic cotton. Unfortunately, due to its unevenness and the slub (little hairs) along the thread, industry has all but abandoned the fibre and the demand for linen has fallen globally.

On our old-style shuttled looms, a weaver must slow down approximately 50%, effectively doubling the time it takes to make a piece in comparison with cotton.

Jennifer has the privilege of working with the last family who cultivate their own silk worms from caterpillar to cocoon.

They reel silk thread in low temperature water (acid-free), which means threads obtain a tensile strength equal to steel wire for the highest-quality thread possible. In one 12-hour day, their method of slow reeling can yield a maximum of just three kilograms of thread, enough for approximately 5 pestamel.

The earthquakes in the South-East of Türkiye affected this region and we have not been able to produce silk pestamel since that time. We still have a few special pieces left and as the area heals and is rebuilt, we look forward to new silk production soon.

As other natural fibres become available locally, we will add them to our line-up. Of special interest is hemp.

Like its cousin, flax, hemp is a “bast” fiber, which means that the fiber-producing part of the plant is made up of strands that run its length and surround the woody core of the stem. It grows quickly, is naturally resistant to many insect species, and needs little water to cultivate. It also has a deep root system, which helps to reduce soil loss and erosion, and is useful in many different crop rotations..

Currently, the Turkish government has allowed a handful of farmers to plant hemp experimentally. We hope hemp will soon be readily available as threads we can use.