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About Ilgen Paydas

I am Ilgen - the marketing director of Cotton & Olive. Cotton and Olive is a small online business run by me and my husband since 2012. We are both born and bred Turkish citizens who have been living in the UK long enough to become British. Our move to the UK was due to a new role my husband has been appointed to for BP UK, back in 2005. It all started with a 3-years contract and it never came to an end. Having raised our 2 daughters- the youngest one is off to Uni this year- we are now fully involved growing our business. So here we are, proudly presenting our beautifully wholesome hammam towels and robes, bedspreads & throws naturally complemented by hand-crafted olive oil soaps from my hometown, Antakya, at Southern Turkey, right on the Syrian border. This ancient city -Antioch- has a centuries-old history of soap-making. And the ‘Olive’ bit in our brand comes right from our olive-oil soaps, as you may have guessed. Our journey just carries on naturally mingling our Turkish cultural traditions with the western flavour, creating our unique version reflected in our work. We keep adding new product variations, learning a lot on the way, making plenty of mistakes but never losing the spirit of fun and love for the product. Thank you for being here and sharing our passion. Ilgen Oct/2019

Versatile Cotton Turkish Blankets for All Seasons

Hello! We hope you are well and keeping warm this winter amid the Cost of Living Crisis. Some of you who are with us all the way from the beginning of our journey know well that we started Cotton and Olive as a brand back in October 2012 operating under the company name Leanwise [...]

By |2023-03-13T09:32:28+00:00March 13th, 2023|Bedspreads and Throws|Comments Off on Versatile Cotton Turkish Blankets for All Seasons

Caring for Hammam Towels and Robes

Hi everyone! Would you like to learn a bit more about caring for hammam towels to improve their longevity? If you are new to hammam towels, then you may would like to read our blog article What is a Peshtemal? The purpose of this blog post is to provide all the essentials that you [...]

By |2023-08-21T13:44:27+00:00December 23rd, 2022|Hammam Towels, User's Guide|Comments Off on Caring for Hammam Towels and Robes

Can I Use Hammam Towels as Bath Towels?

I can’t think of a better time to write about using hammam towels as bath towels. You may wonder why now is the time? The simple answer is the current energy crisis worldwide and the myriad ways we are all trying to change our lifestyles to cope with this crisis. Hammam towels are great [...]

By |2022-11-09T14:35:20+00:00November 9th, 2022|Hammam Towels, Towels, User's Guide|Comments Off on Can I Use Hammam Towels as Bath Towels?

What is a Throw Blanket?

Throws, blankets, bedspreads, throw blankets are among the most common terms we use to define our home textile products. But what do we mean exactly when we use these terms? Throws Throws are small blankets and the most versatile among all. They are usually up to 150 x 200 cm in size and [...]

By |2022-09-01T07:56:38+00:00September 1st, 2022|Bedspreads and Throws, User's Guide|Comments Off on What is a Throw Blanket?

What To Expect When Visiting a Turkish Hammam

Bathing in a traditional Turkish hammam (sauna bath) is probably on most tourists’ to-do-list while they are visiting Turkey. It is partly because tourists are always interested in immersing themselves in other cultures’ traditions. Also, it is partly because they love to get involved in hands-on experiences when they are in a foreign land. [...]

By |2022-08-12T13:15:51+00:00August 12th, 2022|Turkey|Comments Off on What To Expect When Visiting a Turkish Hammam

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