Bedding Matresses
Around 3400 BC Egyptian pharaohs had their beds moved off the ground and slept on a raised surface. Roman Empire mattresses were stuffed with wool, feather, reeds or hay. The beds were decorated with paint, bronze, silver, jewels and gold. During the Renaissance, mattresses were stuffed with straw and feathers and then covered with silks, velvets or satin material.
The arrival of the 18th century brought bed frames made from cast iron, and mattresses that were made of cotton. The 19th century saw the invention of the bed spring, also called the box spring. The 20th century brought the inner spring mattress, futon, water bed (starting in the 1960s), air mattresses, foam rubber mattresses and pillows.
Around 3400 BC Egyptian pharaohs had their beds moved off the ground and slept on a raised surface. Roman Empire mattresses were stuffed with wool, feather, reeds or hay. The beds were decorated with paint, bronze, silver, jewels and gold. During the Renaissance, mattresses were stuffed with straw and feathers and then covered with silks, velvets or satin material. The arrival of the 18th century brought bed frames made from cast iron, and mattresses that were made of cotton. The 19th century saw the invention of the bed spring, also called the box spring.
The 20th century brought the inner spring mattress, futon, water bed (starting in the 1960s), air mattresses, foam rubber mattresses and pillows.
History of Mattresses
A mattress is a mat or pad, usually placed on top of a bed, upon which to sleep or lie.
The word mattress is derived from Arabic words meaning "to throw" and "place where something is thrown" or "mat, cushion." During the Crusades, Europeans adopted the Arabic method of sleeping on cushions thrown on the floor, and the word materas eventually descended into Middle English through the Romance languages.
Though a mattress may be placed directly on the floor, it is usually placed on top of a platform (such as a platform bed or a metal box-spring or a slatted foundation) to be further from the ground. Historically, mattresses have been filled with a variety of natural materials, including straw and feathers. Modern mattresses usually contain either an inner spring core or materials such as latex, viscoelastic, or other polyurethane-type foams. Mattresses may also be filled with air or water, or a variety of natural fibres, such as in futons.
History of Duvets
A duvet from the French duvet "down", is a type of bedding — a soft flat bag traditionally filled with down or feathers, or a combination of both, and used on a bed as a blanket. Duvets originated in rural Europe and were made from the down feathers of the eider duck, known for its usefulness as an insulator.
In Westphalia, an English travel-writer observed with surprise in 1749,
"There is one thing very particular to them, that they do not cover themselves with bed-cloaths, but lay one feather-bed over, and another under. This is comfortable enough in winter, but how they can bear their feather-beds over them in summer, as is generally practised, I cannot conceive."
Duvets are still commonly used in Europe (especially in northern Europe where it is the most common form of bed covering), and have become popular throughout the world in the late 20th century.
Duvets reduce the complexity of making a bed, as it is a single covering instead of the combination of bed sheets, blankets, and quilts or other bed covers, which is traditional in many parts of the world. The cover is called a "duvet cover" or a "quilt cover".
In modern times, a duvet is sometimes filled with silk, wool, cotton, or artificial fibres (such as polyester batting or other artificial material); it is sometimes confused with a comforter. Although comforters go on top of the traditional sheets and blankets, duvets are used by themselves.
In some European countries, any thick, warm blanket is subject to being called a duvet, as this has become a popular name for these kinds of blankets.
In Australia, a duvet or down quilt is often called a "Doona", which is a generalized trademark (registered to the Tontine Group) which is derived from the equivalent common Scandinavian term dyne and popularized by the retailer IKEA in the 1970s. Originally the term continental quilt was the standard name used across Australia. In Pakistan, duvets are known as ralli quilts, and are mostly used in the southern province of Sindh. In the US, confusion often occurs as the word "duvet" is sometimes used to refer to a comforter cover rather than the down blanket itself.
The term "Duvet day" is used in some countries to describe an allowance of one or more days a year when employees can simply phone in and say that they are not coming in to work, even though they have no leave booked and are not ill. The provision of this benefit became fashionable in the late 1990s with many larger companies in the UK.