The Swedish bed manufacturer started with saddles and then tried to conquer the luxury bed market with a single, distinctive design. They have been around for over 170 years, and their horsetail-filled beds not only guarantee sweet dreams, but also quality.
A third of Swedes emigrated to America to escape the poverty of the 1800s, but not Pehr Adolf Janson's family, who remained in their small cottage on the outskirts of Örebro. In 1839, his mother died of poverty, but this family tragedy steeled the young boy: he must become a good craftsman who could support his loved ones.
The ambitious young man became an apprentice to a saddler at the age of 18, and four years later he had mastered the art of working with leather to such a degree that he received his master's certificate in 1852. At that time, however, harness makers were also making other leather goods, even mattresses stuffed with horsetail hair, and Pehr Adolf learned to do these things. The young man then married and started a family in the small village of Hed, on the outskirts of the city of Köping. The marriage produced three children, and the two sons followed in their father's footsteps by learning the trade themselves. (One of them, Adolf Fredrik, later left saddlery to become a politician and campaign for gender equality.)
The youngest son, Per Thure, took over the company in 1885, and under his reign, the emphasis on mattresses, seats and pillows increased, as the first cars appeared in Sweden in the meantime. Although at first they also increased the production of horse tools, by 1917 it was crystal clear that cars were replacing animals in transport, so the main profile of the family business, now run by grandson David, became bed making. At that time, the company chose the horse figure as its logo, which of course also refers to the fact that the quality mattresses are filled with horsetail hair. However, the quality filling available on the market was not enough to meet the demand, so Hästens founded its own horsehair spinning factory. The number of orders increased so much that 20 tons of horsehair were purchased - even from Egypt, where the world's best quality Arabian horsehair comes from.
One pattern above all
The company had outgrown the town of Hed in the meantime, and although they considered moving the company to Stockholm, which had great purchasing power, they eventually settled on Köping, as David had fallen in love with a girl there – this is still the company's headquarters today. In order to be able to sell accompanying products to go with the beds, the production of feather and down pillows and duvets was started in 1926. The growth was also helped by changes in sleeping habits, as many people used to sleep on the sofa in the evening, but more and more people wanted their own bedroom and a normal bed in it.
By the 1940s, they were able to open a new factory and introduce a 25-year guarantee, which promised that the mattresses would be just as comfortable a quarter of a century later as they were on the first night. The 100th anniversary, 1952, was a turning point, as King Gustav VI Adolf visited the factory, granted the company the title of royal supplier, and the Swedish shipping company America Line also ordered beds from here for every cabin on one of its new luxury ocean liners. In 1963, the time came for the fourth generation: David's eldest daughter, Solveig, and her husband, Jack Ryde, took over the company. The latter was passionate about design, so in 1978 he designed the most important feature of Hästens beds to this day: the blue and white checkered upholstery. However, it was very different from the fashion of the 70s, and he received a lot of criticism for it, but time ultimately proved him right.
Luxury hotel and the world's most expensive bed
Their son, Jan, breaking with family tradition, first wanted to pursue a different career, teaching economics as a doctoral student at Linköping University of Technology, then meeting his future wife in his hometown, so there was nothing to do, the company management was waiting for him too. (Today, the couple's son, the sixth generation, also works for the company.)
The focus was on the checkered beds that became famous worldwide. In 1995, King Carl XVI Gustaf confirmed the company's status as a court supplier (meaning that the current Swedish royal family also sleeps on these beds), and the quality pieces can now be purchased in 45 countries – for example, at Soul Interiors in the MaxCity Home Furnishings Shopping Center. In recent years, the company has worked with star designers such as Ilse Crawford, former editor-in-chief of the British ELLE Decoration, who also collaborates with IKEA, and Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, but they have also launched the world's most expensive bed and opened their own luxury boutique hotel in the Portuguese city of Coimbra called Hästens Sleep Spa. What else can come from here in the next 170 years?
