Hästens – Wake up in the world’s finest bed

A million bucks these days can’t even buy you house in Vancouver… but it can buy you a bed. Yes, a million dollar bed!! While this is way out of my price range, I was definitely intrigued at the thought of such luxury, and gladly made a visit to the Hästens showroom to check out what exactly goes into these lavish beds!

A softly lit showroom with mattresses dressed in Hästens’ classic checkered pattern, a pattern I associate with comfy PJs, I immediately felt like I was in a giant bedroom and wanted to jump right into the nearest bed (which we did!).

The internal structure of each bed is similar: layers of natural materials consisting of flax canvas (for sound insulation), cotton, wool, fabric, and horsetail hair, supported by strong steel springs.

Horsetail hair is naturally springy and light. Hästens transforms long smooth horsetail hair into spiral curls using a natural process. When compressed and then released, the natural springs bounce back. And because it is so light, the horsetail hair allows the air to flow around the material, removing moisture and keeping the bed well-ventilated at a comfortably cool temperature to help minimize the number times a person changes position in their sleep. Most people toss and turn an average of 20 times per night, and the top cause is because we get too hot when we sleep! And if we’re tossing and turning often, we are not getting good quality sleep.

Hästens has a very simple philosophy: better sleep makes for a better life.

With over 170 years of experience, Hästens has been manufacturing the very best beds since 1852. Hästens is a sixth-generation family business based out of Köping, Sweden, with a mission is to deliver sleep that wakes you to the best version of yourself. Hästens takes the utmost care to create the perfect bed to bring satisfying, deep, and restorative sleep.

Every bed is expertly-crafted, hand-stitched, and hand-assembled by master bed builders. Because Hästens focus is creating comfort, they do not count the number of work hours it takes to make a bed. “A Hästens bed should take exactly the time that is needed.” Fun fact though, over 200 hours goes into assembling the basic model. The top-of-the line model takes over 600 hours.

Ringo Wu, the store’s General Manager, explains Hästens design principle that form follows function. This means that all of Hästens’ products are designed to prioritize usability, efficiency, and practicality over purely aesthetic or decorative considerations. Every aspect of the Hästens’ mattress is done for a reason.

The corners of each mattress are thoughtfully reinforced, so that it remains firm instead of sinking in, since most people sit at the corner of their bed when dressing. The single thread hand-stitched along the sides of the mattress keeps the springs from shifting during transport, maintaining the integrity of the bed.

Even Hästens’ iconic checkered pattern is functional. Each square is exactly 5cm x 5 cm, which helps the craftsmen measure out the amount of fabric and guides them to cut straight lines, and makes it easy to tell the dimensions of the mattress. The mattresses range in firmness, from extra soft, to extra firm.

I felt like Goldilocks, laying on each mattress to see which one I thought I liked best. I liked the firm mattress, lots of support, but the Ringo advised that medium would be better suited for me, because he could see that my spine was much straighter on a medium mattress! Takes an expert eye to see the difference!

One of the mattresses was on remote-adjustable mechanism that raised or lowered the head and foot of the bed. We were sooo comfortable that we had to will ourselves to get up off the bed.

You may be wondering what sort of investment you have to shell out to get your hands on one of these bespoke, high-quality, hand-made, top-of-the-line mattresses? Well, prices depend on the model and size (the bed can be made up to “Viking size”, 4m x 4m!) The lowest-price mattress that I tested starts at $30,000.

The Vividus model used to be the most expensive mattress in the world, priced at $400,000. But that was topped by Hästens ultra-luxurious Grand Vividus, priced at a whopping $1M!!

In 2020, the music artist, Drake, had commissioned Canadian designer Ferris Rafauli to design the world’s most expensive and exclusive bed set. In collaboration with Hastens, Refaldi delivered.

The Grand Vividus oozes luxury: the already masterfully-crafted Vividus was levelled up with stingray skin handles and mattress corners, brass riveting, and a higher volume of the natural materials (horse tail hair, wool, cotton, and flax), hand-upholstered in exclusive horse-print patterned checkered fabric.

Aside from Drake, Ringo was unable to disclose the identities of other folks that proudly own a Grand Vividus (from the likes of Hollywood stars to the world’s wealthiest humans). Hästens has over 300 stores across 45 countries. I was amazed to learn that Hästens in Taiwan sold eleven Grand Vividus bed sets in 2024!

You too can experience what it would be like to wake up in such luxury without having to shell out a fortune by booking a bed test Hästens flagship store in Vancouver. You can even keep your shoes on!