In ‘The Home Notes’ – Haute couture linen brand Fevronia’s Founder Maria Akulich is our guest author. Maria shares her story about the intangible luxury of healing sleep – especially for Beauty Life Moments. It is a story of heritage crafts revived for modern living. Fevronia is the art of linen couture.
THE ART OF LINEN COUTURE
By Maria Akulich
Maria shares her time between England, France and Greece. She studied marketing at Stanford University and holds an MBA degree from the London Business School. Maria studied fabric production in France and hand-made lace techniques in Burano, Italy. She reintroduced the 19th century technique of thread-pulling lace creation within the body of the finest percale cotton and patented it.
This technique allows for decorative lace to flow directly from the fabric edge without any hem or joining needed. Her aspiration is to elevate the sleeping culture by introducing uncompromised quality textile products with exquisite design, inspired by nature, art, music and literature.
Maria is a horse dressage amateur. She is a mother to twin sons.
Discover More Of Maria’s Story:
BEHIND THE HISTORY
Is interesting to look back at the history of bedding. If we look, for example, at Medici family portraits, we will see gorgeous linens at first place. Precious fabric was a symbol of wealth and taste. Noble people were sleeping dressed in obviously uncomfortable clothes or on the fabrics which contained metallised threads, precious stones, extensive decoration. It was not about how you sleep but how you demonstrate you supposed to sleep.
The Bourgeoise revolutions of 18th and 19th centuries led to the growing middle class and appreciation of home comfort. At this time delicate linens with subtle lace work and embroidery were flourishing. After the 20th century World Wars, when ‘streamlined’ white linen was required for hospitals in abundance because it was easy to sterilise it in a boiling water, simple white sheets became omnipresent. With the development of a consumption society and the hotel industry booming, plain white linen became a commodity. But should it stay so?
INTANGIBLE LUXURY MOMENTS
Nowadays, when personal experience and intangible luxury moments became key, Fevronia tries to renaissance home textile products by always making something special. Not to an extreme, of course, – you will not see crystals on the sheets (because they are uncomfortable for sleep).
At the same time Fevronia exhibits intricate and gentle handmade decoration, uncompromised quality and touch of the European fabrics. The attention to a very single stitch made will be there.
TRADITION AND HERITAGE
AUTHENTIC THREAD TECHNIQUES
We have three main lines of bed linen, each unique in the essence. Punto in Aria is a classical bedding made from precious cottons which are called ‘angel skin’ in the industry for their ultimate gentleness. Here we use natural pastel colours, and best in class laces. The jewel in the crown is the Diamond Splendour collection where we recreated authentic pull thread technique of the 19th century. With special curved needles, our Seamstresses literally create lace patterns within the body of the fabric so that pillows and sheets get a light elegant design and a soft touch. We call this ‘stich-less’ linens.
A CLASSICAL DESIGN
Our Elysian Nights collection is all about the quality of elevated thread counts sateen that our Italian supplier is making for Fevronia from extra-long staple cotton fibres sourced from organic farms in the USA and Middle East.
Classical design is executed in the way British and French old masters were tailoring. For instance, we do not use a zig-zager and prefer a double-fold seam which allows the linen to live longer for the enjoyment of its owners.
AN ARTISTIC FLOURISH
Finally, we celebrate inspiration around sleep as an experience with our Artistic Flourishes richly embroidered sheets. Here we created five different pallets and embroidery moods – to respond to different tastes of our customers.
La Péri is a romantic dusky rose and praline coloured bedding set with embroidered mythical birds and ornaments. Echo Nymph is a calm, elegiac silver blue shaded set with braided trims. To create this, we collaborated with artists from Switzerland, Japan, and England.
BESPOKE TEXTILE COMMISSSIONS
It is the same approach, but with different twists we follow in creation of bath and table linens and accessories. Huge part of our work is creation of turnkey textile projects and bespoke items creation. We can embroider a whole duvet cover with two metre patterns; satisfy medical needs of our clientele by selecting special mattresses, duvets, and pillows; or tailor uniquely sized and branded items for luxury yachts and aircraft.
A SEAMTRESS STORY
Legend says, Fevronia was a Saint Seamstress who spent her life in calm working – to make the life of other people better. The most uplifting thing I hear from people who selected our linen is “I have not experienced such a sleep before”. Neither in terms of quality, nor beauty.
Inspired by the life-enhancing glow of a divine light, we try to make the finest products for a better home experience. By employing authentic artists and seamstresses whose craftsmanship allows for a more sustainable production and preserving of classic, best in class techniques we celebrate kindness and responsibility as unequivocal values.
an aristocratic heritage
We honour the aristocratic heritage of exquisitely embroidered bedlinens, and beyond that, we believe in a noble existence – working with integrity, respect and good manners.
Luxury is not how you look, especially if we are talking about sleep. It is about how you feel. It is truly a beauty life moment when you feel a pure, serene, radiant harmony of body and soul. I believe home linen should be a source of lifeforce, and this is what Fevronia’s team is pursuing.
Beauty Life Moments wishes to thank Maria Akulich for sharing the unique story of Fevronia. It is the art of linen couture. To discover more and to shop the collections visit Fevronia – it may be the beginning of a beautiful home linen journey.
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