Why natural fabrics are the best choice for interiors

At Katy Botanicals we offer you the beauty and the calming energy of nature through our designs and using fabrics that are ecological, soft and durable. Bright, beautiful fabrics that have a positive impact on your environment, before quietly decomposing back into the earth when they’ve come to the end of their natural life. 

Foxglove linen tablecloth with home grown English cottage garden flowers

Katy Botanicals natural fabrics are plant based, used for thousands of years and part of the natural cycle of life. Traditionally, throughout history, for as long as humans have been wearing clothes and making tools, we’ve made fabrics out of plants.  We first wore linen, made from flax stems, and wove nettle plants as far back as the stone age.  We still have linen shirts that were found in the Egyptian tombs.  These fabrics come from the earth, they grow, are harvested, dried, stripped and spun into threads to then be dyed and made into cloth for us to wear, walk on, and hang across our windows.  Isn’t that amazing.

Woodland linen tablecloth against a flowering Quince tree

However, in the 20th century we learnt how to process oil out of the ground and make it into textiles.  Nylon was invented in the 1930s and polyester in the 1940s, these are the first fabrics to be made purely from petrochemicals. This discovery has led to cheaper, more durable cloths and textiles for the home like polyester, nylon, foam and vinyl.  These fabrics are strong, waterproof and long lasting but they also leach chemicals and microplastics into the skin and air. It is becoming clear that these products are not stable and the chemical they contain are being released into our bodies by being absorbed and inhaled. 

There is also the environmental problem of materials that don’t decompose.  At the end of its useful life, cotton will take around two years to decompose, however polyester will take over 500 years to decompose, releasing chemicals as it does so. 

Pink ringed parakeet linen headboard and fern design linen tablecloth

All our designs originate in nature, from the beauty of the English countryside around my studio, so it is natural for Katy Botanicals to offer you these creations printed onto the most gorgeous natural fabrics that we could find. I create all our designs at home in Hampshire, and all our producers are English businesses who adhere to strict environmental guidelines.