Hästens - The Spirit of Excellence

July 2020 / Category: Design

Hästens - since 1852

It appears to me that today's generation lives in an understanding of expectations where "fast"seemes to be the ultimate approach. Fast food followed by fast meaningless social media content. Fast news with the lack of differentiation followed by fast absorption without doubts. Fast clicks and buys followed by fast deliveries. To be frank: the faster and the more the better. The easier to understand the better. So little aspiration of quality and depth. Somewhere between the comfort of the masses and the growing industrial globalization we forgot to look back at heritage, quality and longivity.

Luckily there has been a change of understanding going on in the past years that sustainability is everyone's responsibility. That we need to go back to find durability and endurance in life. Working in the fast moving fashion and social media industry myself, constantly being flooded and surrounded by products, my personal approach to live more sustainable is not only to be a vegetarian but to be incredibly conscious about long lasting products and quality rather than chasing the new and better.
Buy less and invest!

The happier and increadibly greatful I am that Hästens, a brand that itself stands for sustainability since ever, and I joined a journey for life. A partnership with a family company that goes back to 1852. Being found and still based in Köping, Sweden Hästens has a rich history running back through six generations. From roots as master saddlers to Hästens appointment as Royal Purveyors, and the spirit of excellence that has made Hästens the frontier of its own very unique category. Their sense for sustainability, passion, skill and diligence of craftmanship is Hästens' individual heritage that leads to the pursuit of making the best handcrafted beds in the world.
Hästens only uses what they consider to be the finest natural materials: Horsehair, Cotton, Wool, Flax, Pine and Springs. Sustainably produced and ethically sourced - so that those materials can be given a new life one day.

It is impacable if we think about how much time we actually spend in our beds: over 24 years in total! This is approximately a quarter of our lifetime. And to acknowledge how much our sleep affects our mood and strength during the day should give us an understanding about the importance of a mattress' material. We need to invest into quality for our lifetime rather than spending money on ephemeral things. Our generation is just not used to the idea anymore to use one item of long duration. And to be frank: a Hästen's bed is a lifetime companion. 

I had the increadible pleasure to visit Hästens' heritage in Sweden in the beginning of the year to look behind the scenes of their flawless craftmanship. I would have expected a loud factory but was suprised by such a calm and quiet surrounding (besides my voice propably) due to the handcraft and only few mashines they use. It made me speachless how much patience, skill-set, love and compassion were being put into every single mattress that only consists of natural materials. This standing besides the kindness of the whole team which quickly felt like family affairs. 

3 months later the day of the days arrived: I finally received the piece of heaven at home! I am saying this in such an exaggerated way because first of all I have always been a bad sleeper and couldn't wait anymore to go on this exciting journey and second of all I am absolutely not exaggerating. It is pretty clear to say that my sleeping quality has massively increased. Always having been an utterly light sleeper, repeatedly waking up in the middle of the night and being quite knocked out the next morning, I now experienced a much calmer sleep. It is so much more balanced that it has a big impact on my day to day life. Also the materials and craftwork's technique regulate your body temperature which will support and increase the depth of your sleep. At this point I will have to deal with the fact that my own luxury of sleeping comfort at home will - let's be real guys - spoil my ass. I would have never thought that the difference in a mattress' quality can be that sensible but here we are.
If you should have the chance please go and experience this comfort in one of the Hästens stores yourself. I promise you: I am not pushing too hard here. 

So guys: In order to be contemporarily sustainable and forwardly moving it is truly worth it to invest into proper, long lasting products that you keep for a lifetime instead of going for the quick run with the lack of quality.

Thank you Hästens for this truly beautiful partnership. The irony is that every since you guaranteed to have a lifetime long lasting product, I will never leave your side. 
Good night - I am gonna sleep now.