The number 13 has gotten a bad rap in the past, but did you know that in a lot of other cultures, 13 is considered lucky? In Greek mythology, Zeus is the thirteenth and most powerful god, the age 13 signifies maturity in Judaism, the Thai New Year is celebrated on April 13, and in Hinduism, 13 is considered a sacred number. Moreover, in Italian culture, 13 is considered pretty lucky with its own catchy phrase “fare tredici” which directly translates to “to do 13” meaning to hit the jackpot! "Fare 13" derives from a game where you had to guess the results of 13 football matches (totocalcio) to win the top prize.
I have a feeling this year will be very lucky for Essentia as we celebrate our 13th birthday steeped in our Italian roots. Didn’t realize we had Italian roots? Well if our CEO & Founder’s name, Giacomo Dell’Accio, didn’t give it away there are a few more clues hidden in the Essentia journey.
When Jack began his journey in creating the world’s only natural memory foam, he traveled to Italy to meet with some of the leading latex producers to get some insight on the formulation and what it would take to accomplish what he was planning. As you would imagine, these companies were reluctant and less than forthcoming with sharing the formulas they had perfected with a stranger. At the time, Jack’s background meant he had a strong relationship with some of the finest Italian furniture makers. With those connections, Jack secured a dinner with all these parties, who after sharing Bistecca alla Fiorentina, wine, and dessert realized that this project was something they would like to help with. That is when Jack begins testing different formulations of what has become the highest-performing foam mattress.
This brings us to another important element born in Italy, Essentia’s signature Zebrano striped fabric was designed in Italy and can be found exclusively on Essentia products. This custom-made, unbleached, certified organic cotton fabric took time to perfect. With Jack spending countless hours at the textile atelier in Italy designing this performance fabric, and from what I was told and heard many times along the way that what he was looking for was impossible…. Kinda like the way creating a natural memory foam without the toxic chemicals found in synthetic mattresses was also impossible right ;)
In fact, to achieve this performance fabric that would make the cover of the Essentia mattress the weaving machinery had to be completely re-tooled to weave the signature Zebrano stripe. A process that took many tries to perfect but delivered awesome results. On today’s Essentia mattress, you will still find the signature Zebrano stripe running along the bottom half of each mattress, and covering our pillows.
If you’ve followed along with our story, you know that nothing Essentia does is cookie-cutter or out of the box, meaning it takes time to perfect every aspect of the Essentia product to offer unmatched sleep experiences. One of the biggest hurdles, when we were getting down to the end of the development phase, was ‘how will we ship these?’. We had a goal to keep our carbon footprint down and knew that we wanted to compress the mattresses. However, most machines couldn’t compress and roll the Essentia mattress due to its high density and weight. This quest once again led Jack back to Italy meeting with a company that specializes in mattress roll-pack machines.
Yes, the only machinery they make is specific to roll-packing mattresses, so it was back to Italy to meet with these specialists. After lots of trial and error, the machinery was able to be re-engineered to compress and roll Essentia mattresses, no easy feat. Think about this, a queen-size Beausommet mattress features 2 layers of high-density natural memory foam and a high-density latex support foam tipping the scales at about 150lbs! The re-engineered machine is able to compress and roll this mattress to fit into a box sized 62" x 16" x 16", it’s like a carpet but is really your mattress!
This allows us to take up 75% less space when shipping compared to a traditional mattress, which also means 75% less packaging. All Essentia boxes are made from 100% recycled paper (99% post-consumer and 1% post-industrial).
So you see, sleeping on an Essentia really is like “fare tredici”!
