Meet the Maker: DEVON DUVETS

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Devon Duvets and how the journey began?

Devon Duvets was founded by husband-and-wife team, Dick and Pauline Beijen. They had left their busy international lifestyle for one that was more sustainable by moving, with their children, Anna and Jake, to a smallholding on Dartmoor in 2008. With their small flock of sheep, they started to make small craft items with wool.

Which gave them the idea to make the UK’s first individually handcrafted British wool duvet, with the aim of helping people sleep better. Dick and Pauline are committed to supporting British farming, so they spoke to other local farmers to see how they could get enough wool to further progress their idea.

At this point, they were discovered by Monty Don. Who included them in his series ‘My Dream Farm’ in 2009 and the interest generated by this led to a significant increase in production. With more seamstresses and a dedicated building where the range of wool filled soft bedding could be made.

What sets Devon Duvets apart from other bedding brands in the market?

Devon Duvets remains a family run and family-owned business, that makes authentic individually handcrafted products, using British wool that is certified by British Wool. Everything we do is geared towards making luxury products that are natural and sustainable. Our supply chain is responsible and ethical and we only work with suppliers who share our values and ethos.

We are committed to supporting British sheep farmers and to paying fair prices for our fleeces through the British Wool traceability programme. Allowing a high level of quality control, through our on-going staff training and we undergo ethical auditing by SEDEX.

We constantly seek ways to inspire and educate consumers about the importance of sleep, making sustainable choices, and supporting British famers and British manufacturing. Striving to offer our customers the best possible service, from enquires through to after sales, and are delighted to be award-winners for our customer service as a result. We are also immensely proud to be the only UK wool soft bedding company to have been awarded coveted membership of The Guild of Master Craftsmen.

Sustainability is a growing concern for consumers. How does Devon Duvets integrate sustainability into its products and practices?

Sustainability has always been at the heart of Devon Duvets. And we believe that it is the responsibility of manufacturers to lead the way by offering sustainable choices to consumers. Months of research into ethical and sustainable sourcing was conducted before the business was even launched. From the materials and fibres used to make our products, to the way our products are crafted, through to our operational processes. To our packaging, which is made for us by a local company also committed to sustainability.

For example, our wool is cleaned and needled into layers in the UK, in traditional British mills, without the use of any chemical treatments, so this is better for the environment – and for our customers. It also means that our carbon footprint is low as we are keeping the wool within the UK to be processed. Neither do we use synthetic liners, bonding agents, or glues.

The cotton fabric that we use is woven to our strict specifications, using cotton fibres certified by Better Cotton. A global organisation that promotes more environmentally friendly cotton farming practices.

We recognise that sustainability is also vitally important to British sheep farming, to ensure the continuation of this ancient tradition, which dates back to pre-Roman times. So, by paying a fair price to our selected farmers, through the British Wool traceability programme.

We are enabling them to continue breeding their flocks and producing the high-quality wool that we need to make our products. Especially, delighted to have recently launched our new Rare Breeds range. The first products of which are made with wool from the Devon Closewool, an ‘at risk’ breed on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust list of British heritage breeds. These products now sit alongside our already established, award-winning ranges.

We are committed to a circular economy through eliminating wastage, and training for our seamstresses also ensures the most efficient, waste saving, production practices. Cotton fabric offcuts are used by another British company to make linings for gloves, our wool roll ends are fluffed and re-purposed for other Devon Duvets products and our wool scraps are composted. Our products are made in a purpose-built, energy efficient building, using energy efficient sewing machines.

The use of natural materials is a key aspect of Devon Duvets’ products. Could you elaborate on the benefits of using these materials?

The use of natural materials is the most important aspect of our products – and we only use natural and sustainable materials. As already mentioned, this is important for the environment, and it is also important to ensure an excellent quality of sleep.

At Devon Duvets, we want to be able to help people sleep better and wool is a wonderful natural and sustainable fibre that is also breathable and temperature regulating, helping to keep your core body temperature balanced throughout the night. It is also naturally resistant to dust mites and the build-up of micro bacteria, which means it is hypoallergenic and hygienic.

British wool is highly regarded for its quality, and has been for over 2,000 years, so we are proud to use it and continue the tradition. To safeguard the environment and our customers, we keep our wool as natural as possible, which means not using chemicals for cleaning or processing our wool. Chemical processes also alter the structure of the wool fibres and can therefore impact on their natural properties.

What steps does Devon Duvets take to ensure the highest quality in its products?

By using high quality materials and individually handcrafting each duvet, topper, and pillow in our own workshops here in Devon. We can maintain high standards throughout the entire creation process. Our products are not partially or wholly prefabricated and then finished, neither are they mass produced.

Only by individually handcrafting products are our seamstresses able to achieve the high standards that our customers expect and deserve. As it takes an experienced eye and hand to gauge the perfect drape needed to create a duvet with the right kind of luxury and cosiness.

That same time-served experience also ensures that the stitching for our toppers creates a product that is springy and cushion-like. We also hand stuff our original wool pillows, to ensure the filling is evenly spread and fluffed. Even the binding that we use is made here, by our seamstresses, from our cotton fabric.

Could you walk us through the manufacturing process of a Devon Duvets product, from sourcing materials to the final product?

All our materials are sourced from suppliers that share our values, and their details and how we source from them are included in the processes behind our ethical auditing with SEDEX. As mentioned previously, we take great care to ensure that our materials are natural, sustainable, and chemical free. We are committed to ensuring that everything we do in terms from the sourcing of our materials. Through all our crafting processes right through to packaging has minimal impact on the environment.

Our soft filled bedding products are individually handcrafted here in our workshops on the edge of Dartmoor, as this ensures quality and no wastage. For our duvets and toppers, a layer of cotton fabric is hand cut and laid out. Then the wool layers are cut to size and placed on top, with a further layer of cotton fabric on top of this. The product is then stitched, bound, and finished by our seamstresses.

For our Original wool pillows, the cotton fabric casing is made by our seamstresses and then filled with hand fluffed wool. Our patented Folding wool pillows are made in the same way as our duvets.

What inspired Devon Duvets to create its series of bedtime stories?

We wanted to share our values in a gentle way and is part of our way to inspire customers about prominent issues and themes around British sheep farming, sustainability, and kindness. For example, there is a preconceived idea by some that shearing is somehow cruel for sheep. Our story ‘The Sheep Whisperer’ shows that sheep need to be sheared to relieve them of their heavy fleeces and that this is important for their health.

Another story, ‘Whispers of Resilience,’ focuses on the importance of our heritage breeds. ‘The Power of Kindness’ is based on a true story about Dick and Pauline’s sheep dog, Bob. And reflects on how kindness can make a difference at a time when there is so much stress and strife in the world. These stories are a result of Pauline’s inspiration, and the lovely illustrations were specially created.

We have received several customer reviews on our Bedtime Stories, and these can be seen on the individual story pages.

“I showed the Dream Weavers story to my son who is 11 years old, and he looked at me as the story played out and said, “I’ve got a Devon Duvet like that!” The story is lovely and to be fair comforted him and did send him to sleep. Both of my sons have one and when I have a bit of spare money will buy one for my bed too. My boys both love theirs.”

“How fabulous, all the stories are magic in themselves, let alone your duvet sets!”

“’Comfort and joy’ are what is needed the world over. Such comfort from Samuel and his rare breed sheep. Well done sending us another delightful Devon Duvets gentle story with its beautiful illustrations. Thank you.”

Can you share any upcoming projects or developments that Devon Duvets is excited about?

We currently have several exciting projects in the planning stages, in support of sustainability and sleep. However, we are not ready to share the details of these. All we can say is ‘watch this space’!