Linen bolster pillows filled with dried seagrass on a stone bench

An island product from Olib

A piece of island life in a pillow

We wanted to share a fragment of our life on the island, and we found a way to do it through our pillows. The scent of dried seagrass brings summer memories back in an instant. And if you have no such memories yet, it will help you make them.

Each pillow is filled with dry leaves of Posidonia oceanica from the clearest sea around Olib, purified by undersea freshwater springs and the sharp, cold bora wind. The leaves are dried by the Adriatic sun and wind.

The back of your head will be grateful for the soft, natural comfort. Denis Kleva came up with the pillows in 2016 as an authentic island souvenir that connects tradition and ecology.

  • Filled with dry Posidonia leaves
  • From the sea around Olib
  • Dried by sun and wind
  • Made by the Sol association

Croatian Island Product label Croatian Island Product (Hrvatski otočni proizvod) is the national label for authentic products made on Croatian islands.

What is inside

Posidonia, the lungs of the Mediterranean

The leaves in your pillow come from one of the most remarkable plants in the sea. It is not a seaweed but a flowering plant, with roots, leaves, flowers and fruit.

  • 100,000

    years

    The age of the oldest known Posidonia meadow, between Ibiza and Formentera. It is one of the oldest living things on Earth.

  • 14

    litres of oxygen a day

    One square metre of meadow can produce this much. The meadows also filter the sea and keep it clean and clear.

  • 1

    sea in the world

    Posidonia oceanica grows only in the Mediterranean. It lives nowhere else on the planet.

Why people have slept on it for centuries

An old Mediterranean habit, not a new invention.

  • A mattress fit for a pope

    In the 16th century Pope Julius III asked for a mattress filled with Posidonia to keep bedbugs away. Around the Mediterranean, its dried leaves went into mattresses and pillows for generations.

  • Trusted with glass

    Dried leaves were used to pack fragile glass and pottery for the journey, and to insulate roofs and stables.

  • A material that looks after itself

    Researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer institute studied Posidonia fibre as building insulation. They found that it resists mould, hardly burns and needs no chemical additives, and that it takes up moisture and releases it again.

Sources: CEAB-CSIC, Spanish National Research Council, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Sant Josep de sa Talaia, Ibiza, Cyprus Mail

Made on Olib

Would you like a pillow of your own?

Write or call us and we will tell you what is currently available.

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More photos on the Sol association website ↗