Sleep Study: Hästens Has Refined the Art of Mattress-Making for More Than 150 Years

Hästens, the Swedish bed maker known for its horsetail-hair- stuffed mattresses with six-figure price tags, has been the ultimate purveyor of beauty sleep for more than a century. Royals and aristocrats are long-time fans of the brand which prides itself on being discreet. Founded in 1852, the family-owned brand produces handcrafted mattresses that are customized to accommodate everything from body composition to temperature preferences. The handmade nature of each model is a signature of the brand—a point the company is happy to mention especially considering that many Hästens artisans represent multiple generation and families, passing on knowledge and expertise that’s been earned over a century. A closer look at the meticulous and often months-long process of building a single Hästens mattress—each of which is created in the company’s state-of- the-art, Ralph Erskine–designed “Santa’s workshop” in Köping, Sweden—reveals why the blue-checkered mattress is still the king of beds.