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4 BIOPHILIC DESIGN STANDARDS
Sleeping with natural materials is essential for physical and mental health, and wellbeing. Our 4 Design Standards assure a healthy human habitat at night:
- The products we design and make shall comfort and inspire our clients.
- The products we design and make shall be borrowed from, and later returned safely to Earth.
- The products we design and make shall not harm human beings, present or future.
- The products we design and make shall be of long lasting quality and beauty.
99.8% BIODEGRADABLE
The presence of DNA in our materials confirms they are: a) Created by biological processes, b) Already a design ‘approved’ by Nature, c) Contain valuable nutrients for future life, d) Safely biodegrade, and e) Are not toxic to life.
Rather than exploiting Nature, Horizontal aligns with her methods. When there is alignment there is harmony, when there is harmony there is health.
Our un-compromised natural materials harm no one. After their useful time has passed, they return safely to Earth. Today’s Horizontal bed is 99.8% biodegradable; and that remaining 0.2%? We’re working on it!
REPLACEABLE PARTS
Because credible recycling of mattresses is a fictional salvation, Horizontal is committed to ending the toxic culture of ‘throwawayism’ and all its life diminishing negatives.
From the beginning, we have designed with replaceable parts to greatly extend product life and to anticipate future innovations. The Right to Repair is now an essential human right that is necessary to support the economic and environmental security of all people. Our eco-engineering and natural material choices make planned obsolescence, obsolete!
CRUELTY FREE WOOL
Comfortable, resilient, long lasting and chemical free, wool regulates body temperature, warms, cools, and keeps you dry. Wool resists mould, mildew, and discourages dust mites. Wool creates the soft, lofty batting within the top surface of our bed. An additional underlying layer of needled wool forms a natural fire resistant barrier that is completely free of toxic chemicals.
We work with wool suppliers opposed to harmful shearing methods, who do not permit mulesing surgeries on their sheep, and do not apply pesticides or herbicides on grazing land. Working naturally isn’t just good for the sheep, it’s good for the land, the shepherds, our suppliers, our co-workers, and the health of our clients.
GOLS ORGANIC BOTANICAL LATEX
Organic botanical latex is the most natural, longest lasting cushioning material for mattresses. In the long run it is less expensive than other resilient sleeping surfaces. Our latex is made to Global Organic Latex Standards (GOLS). We specify Dunlop latex because it is the best choice for your health and your environment. We never use Talalay latex because it is usually blended (ie. contaminated) with synthetics such as styrene-butadiene which is toxic to the lungs, liver and brain; and it emits excessive carbon during production.
Organic botanical latex plantations offset 90 million tonnes of carbon annually. That, and the absence of carcinogenic chemicals helps us sleep at night.
GOTS ORGANIC COTTON
Our calm blue signature textile covering is made to Global Organics Textile Standards (GOTS) by our certified suppliers. It’s made of high quality 100% long staple cotton. Together with the layers of wools, cotton encased components, natural latexes and flexible hardwood suspension below, your sleeping surface is grounded in nature’s best materials.
Inside our bed/mattress, the textiles you don’t see are 100% natural un-dyed cotton or wool. All of our textiles, indeed Horizontal’s entire sleeping eco- system is completely free of toxic materials.
LONG LASTING HARDWOOD
Our bed frame is built to last, and last. It’s the same hardwood used to make the original baseball bats, Northern White Ash.
Inspired by ancient Japanese joinery, the Horizontal bed frame slides together and interlocks. Our suspension system relies on dual layers of slender hardwood slats that are flexible and resilient. Bed test subjects reported that even when lying on the bare wood suspension, without any padding, they could easily nod off!
With reasonable care, your Horizontal bed frame will deliver you, and perhaps your descendants, a lifetime of great sleep.
LASTS A LIFETIME
A well made bed that can be maintained and restored all the days of your life means Horizontal may be the last bed you ever purchase.
Our biophilic design relies on Nature’s materials and methods because they are the best choices. Nature has biologically encoded humans to respond well to natural materials and surroundings, but not so well to artificial materials and environments. A natural sleeping habitat is an innate human need that supports physical and mental health, enhances happiness, well being, and extends life.
Renewable design for every night of your life, made from natural materials of integrity that rejuvenate your body and your spirit with each sunrise.
DESIGNED IN DEEP COVE
While Horizontal’s eco-design philosophy is influenced by many rich experiences around the world, Deep Cove’s rain forest climate, mountain and valley trails, forests and shoreline provided the environment to conceive the 21st century’s most restful, healthiest, most environmentally considerate sleeping experience.
At the south end of the most southerly fjord on the Pacific West Coast, steep canyons, trees, rivers and streams are still here. Bear, cougar and deer also. 10,000 years after first encamping here, the Tsleil-Waututh people continue to live in this place. Even though the urban environment is close by, thankfully, in these woods you can still get lost…and found.