I slept on a £1 million mattress
Chiara Brown travelled to Stockholm to learn the secrets of the Hästens Grand Vividus, the world’s most expensive mattress
At the exact moment you’re reading this, Drake could be lounging on his £1 million mattress. He’s one of the many celebrities and tech giants — and reportedly oligarchs — who own a Hästens bed, but the rapper doesn’t have just any old model, he sleeps on one of the most expensive in the world, the Grand Vividus. I know what you’re thinking: a bed for £1 million? What could possibly make a mattress so phenomenal that it costs as much as a house? I went to the home of sleep, Hästens’s headquarters in Sweden, to find out.
Pehr Adolf Janson, a master saddle-maker, founded the company in 1852 in the small town of Hed. It wasn’t such a weird career swerve — in those days saddle-makers were also tasked with other horse-based activities, like making horsehair mattresses. Business boomed and Janson moved to the nearby town of Köping to expand operations.
Janson made a good bet investing in the sleep economy when he did. Today it’s worth $432 billion a year globally. Greater awareness about the importance of sleep has resulted in a surge in the sleep accessories market. I am one of the many people who have struggled with insomnia and my room is littered with the evidence. Sound machines, sleep-tracking jewellery, mouth tape and meditation apps have come and gone, but the foundational bit of kit is of course a good mattress, something which I don’t think I’ve ever got right, despite many long conversations with exasperated salespeople. So, as I made my weary way to the Hästens store in Stockholm, I was excited to see whether the brand could live up to its 170-year-old promise and give me a truly sensational sleep.
Hästens stores are not just shops. In addition to the retail department they are all equipped with “sleep spas”. These are dimly lit spaces specifically designed to optimise the bed-testing experience, soothing music and all. On my visit to the store in Stockholm I was greeted by Lars Andersson, one of the brand’s salespeople. He helped me try five different types of Hästens “sleep systems” (read: beds), from the most popular model, the 2000T, which costs from £25,000, all the way to the Grand Vividus. At every bed I was left under a duvet (you can also ask for feather-lined booties and an eye mask), with my head atop the world’s supplest pillow (also made by Hästens). Andersson explained what made each model special while simultaneously examining my body’s alignment in the bed. He explained that it’s important to stay lying down for at least 15-20 minutes to really know if it’s the right fit for you, because Hästens beds have to “breathe out”. On first try the beds can feel firmer due to their materials, but during the breathing-out period they will soften and adjust to the shape of your body.
Customers seeking the ideal match of human to mattress are invited to nap in store and can even request to have the sleep spa closed for a couple of hours just for them. Andersson told me that most people take their time deciding on the right model and that he even had one customer who visited time and again over three years, trying different beds every few months before deciding. For those who are really serious about a purchase, the company is also able to set up overnight stays with hotel partners including the Langham in London. “Sometimes it takes hours to close a sale, sometimes it takes years,” Andersson said.
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All Hästens beds are made with South American horsetail hair. This is considered a by-product of the animal and helps to make the beds a more sustainable choice. The hair is steamed and heated to ensure that it is completely clean and hypoallergenic and is then knotted and twisted to create a sort of curly spring. Then it is hand-stretched by workers at the Hästens factory, which ensures the beds are cooling as well as comfy. The mattresses are also fitted with wool, cotton, spring systems and flax, which removes static electricity and in turn makes it easier for you to achieve a state of deep sleep. Everything down to the laundry detergent you use is considered by the salespeople during the process. Andersson explained that it’s best to use powdered laundry detergent, as liquid detergent has oils that clog the sheets’ fibres, making them hotter, which can disrupt sleep.
We also talked through the concept of bed firmness and the old adage that harder beds are better for you. According to Andersson that’s a misconception. He says that a well-made soft bed can be better for your body’s alignment. I told him I struggle with beds that are too soft because they make it difficult to move about during the night. “Ah, you’re probably moving because your pressure points are being activated,” he replied. He explained that mattresses that don’t support your body properly can lead you to distribute your weight unevenly in the night and result in discomfort over time.
By the end of the visit I learnt that I, like Drake, have expensive taste. My favourite model was the Grand Vividus. Lying down on it I felt instantly cradled. As Andersson talked me through the bed’s various components, I tried to be polite and listen but boy, was this bed comfortable. I found myself drifting off to sleep almost immediately. Andersson said that meant we’d found the right bed, and he confirmed this by checking the positioning of my head, neck and hips to make sure they were aligned correctly with my spine. I asked whether he was upselling me, and he pointed out that the most expensive model isn’t necessarily always the right bed for everyone — it just happened to be for me. Really I was just listening to my body. My body with its very high-end tastes.
After my visit to the store I jumped on a train to visit the factory in Köping (“It’s pronounced ‘sherping’,” I’m corrected), about an hour west of Stockholm. It’s located in an art deco building where about 40 craftspeople, many of whom come from families who have been working at Hästens for generations, spend their days building every mattress by hand. I watched as they separated the permed horsehair into the layers of the mattress and, using long needles, stitched the signature blue checked pattern onto the beds. I was then ushered over to where the Vividus and Grand Vividus beds are made, a special arm of the factory that requires the highest skill level and three years of training to join. These master craftsmen led the multi-year process that took the Grand Vividus from concept to completed prototype in 2020 with the designer Ferris Rafauli and Jan Ryde, the CEO. Ryde wrote in his book, When Business is Love, that the goal was to make the Grand Vividus “better than the best bed ever built”.
The Grand Vividus uses higher-end materials than Hästens’s other models, including thicker horsehair. Unlike the other beds, it also comes with a base. There is a six-month waiting list for the Grand, with about 22 produced each year. Craftsmen in this part of the business know the beds so well they can tell where in the world most mattresses are going based solely on firmness. China tends towards firm beds (Hästens doesn’t even sell extra-soft in the stores there), the US likes soft, while Europe tends towards medium. All in all, a Grand Vividus bed takes 600 hours to make and weighs about 600kg — you need eight people to lift one.
After visiting the factory I headed to Köping’s Bishops Arms pub hotel, the only place in town with a Vividus. It took me a moment to adjust to being able to hear the ever so slight rustle of horsehair beneath me once I’d got into bed, but the mattress breathed out as promised, and I fell asleep more quickly and more comfortably than I had in a long time.
On the car ride to the airport the next morning I suddenly found myself doing some critical maths. It turns out that if you sleep on the world’s most expensive mattress every day for 70 years (about 25,567 days), it works out to be a more palatable £39.62 a night. If you add to this that a Hästens is sold as a lifelong investment, one that you can then pass down for generations (the oldest known Hästens in use is over 100 years old), it suddenly starts to feel like a worthwhile venture. A gift to yourself and your future grandchildren? And, after all, we spend a third of our lives sleeping, so a really a high-quality bed might be the most important purchase we ever make.
Top tips for buying a luxury mattress
Make sure your body is aligned in the mattress
The most expensive model isn’t necessarily the right one for everybody. Choose the mattress that keeps your spine the straightest. According to Hästens specialists your back muscles are the most important to keep aligned, as they can carry the greatest amount of tension and can have the biggest impact on your posture and body health day to day.
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Find the right temperature
The optimal sleep temperature is 18-22C and one of the best ways to achieve this is to look for mattresses that are made of breathable, natural materials such as horsehair or natural fibres. Hot sleepers should also avoid memory foam for this reason. The right bed sheets and detergents can also help control your temperature.
Commit to the testing process
Many beds take time to mould to your body, so it’s important to try them properly. Devote significant time to the process — don’t just jump on and off again. Ideally you should spend 15 minutes or more, over a few different days, to ensure you’ve found the right fit for your body type.
Make sure you have the right accessories
Low pillows are best for sleeping as they align your neck and spine correctly, and help ensure you’re making the most of your mattress. Ideally your chin should remain raised when you lay your head down. If it’s crunched down towards your chest, that’s a sign your pillow is too big and your neck is out of alignment. A crunched neck can also have a negative impact on your breathing in the night.
