The Cotton Poet brings poetic luxury to your home with a range of beautiful bed linens, simply detailed and designed to complement your interior style. It believes there is nothing more luxurious than high quality, white bedding. Designed in London, it has married classic all-white bedding with elegant colour tones and simple design details. We speak to The Cotton Poet’s founder Zosia McCaffrey about why she started The Cotton Poet and what makes her bed linen special.
Tell us a little about yourself, and what inspired you to create The Cotton Poet.
(a) Who are your target customers, and why?
(b) How do you think The Cotton Poet ‘gives back’ to them?
(c) What makes The Cotton Poet completely different to all the other bedding brands out there?
The Cotton Poet was inspired by the seeming lack of choice and detail when looking for classic white bed linen of a high quality. We used this as a foundation for our collection, incorporating only simple colour details, so that The Cotton Poet works for every home and interior design style. Not every home follows the popular trend of everything being grey! Our pops of colour allow our customers to breath a little individual character into their bedrooms – mix colours for some fun, or keep it all matching for a sophisticated hotel feel. Each year, we include a different signature message on the reverse of the pillowcase, inspired by timeless phrases from literature. A goodnight message; a positive note to start and end the day on. This year, our bedding collection includes ‘To sleep, perchance to dream’ from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. A reminder to enjoy the experience of sleep and the escape dreaming offers. In a consumerist world, The Cotton Poet is working hard to provide investment pieces where detail and quality override the trend for, short lived, disposable products.
Simplicity is at the heart of our initial, ‘Classic’, collection. Anyone who prizes luxury cotton and a good night’s sleep will want to slumber in The Cotton Poet. We give back through our commitment to 100% cotton sateen bedding and by creating our designs exclusively in Britain, so our customers know they are supporting an independent, ethical and animal-friendly business.
How do you go about selecting what cotton & colours to use for your bed linen?
The Cotton Poet only uses pure cotton sateen produced in Portugal. We regard Cotton Sateen as the highest quality material for a good night’s sleep and it is produced by one of the best in the industry. Crisp and with an elegant sheen, this high quality cotton has heat regulating qualities for a cosy feel in the winter and crisp coolness in the hotter months. It washes really well too, getting softer and cosier each time.
The colours are carefully selected, taking inspiration from timeless design, nature and most importantly how the colours make you feel. We create white bedding with simple colour details so that The Cotton Poet works for all homes; be it a newly-married couple building their nest together, students putting their stamp on their university bedrooms, or a general interior style refresh. The Cotton Poet offers customers the opportunity to choose from a broad selection of colourful details, such as fresh and uplifting palates of Sunflower or Fuchsia, or subtle elegance with our Mink or Gold. Our matching throws allows you to really finish the look.
Do you think sleep is now a luxury commodity?
Yes, having worked in a high pressured City job in London before setting up The Cotton Poet, I know first hand that people in Britain don’t sleep enough or give it much priority. High pressure, long commutes and a heavy working culture push sleep and relaxation to the bottom of our to-do lists. I can’t stress enough how key sleep is to mental and physical wellbeing. Like our Italian and Scandinavian neighbours, quality sleeping environments that help you rest and unwind should be a major focus in every home. We have a long way to go in the UK but I’m working on it!
Of the products that we’re featuring on the website, what’s the best seller, and why is it a must-need?
Our best sellers are the Henham throw which works across all seasons – large enough to snuggle under in winter but light and versatile to use as a cover alone on a warm summer night. The brighter tones of Sunflower, Fuchsia and Provence Blue have been very popular in our bedding – you can’t help but wake up in a good mood!
How do you think your products are designed to accommodate our rapidly changing sleeping habits?
With our lives moving at a faster pace than ever before, sleep is now crammed at the end of the long list of everything else we need to fit into each day. We are constantly stimulated by screens and devices, and so the classic simplicity of The Cotton Poet allows you to create a sanctuary away from all the noise and just switch off.
What’s the next step for The Cotton Poet?
We are excited to announce our new monogram service. Customers will now be able to personalise pillowcases and other bedding, be it for themselves or to make a gift even more special. We also have 5 new beautiful colour options in our Henham throw to complete your bedroom look.
And finally, a few pearls of wisdom from you! Run us through your recipe for great sleep, and some do’s and don’ts that we ought to follow in our pre-sleep schedules.
(a) What’s one thing you recommend we do with our night time routine for better sleep and better health? .
Get rid of gadgets! Well, perhaps not get rid of but definitely put them to sleep, too. Put your phone on Airplane Mode well before you want to go to sleep, to allow your brain time to calm down for the night. Oh, and beware the Netflix binge(!).
I like to keep the lights low and burn a candle, as this really sets the tone and helps to unwind. I listen to chillout music whilst I add to my to-do list for the next day and clear my head. I don’t go to bed too late – knowing I have a good 8 hours’ rest ahead eliminates that sleep anxiety. A cuddle with Nigel (my pet Sausage dog) always helps, too!
Shop The Cotton Poet here
