DREAM FACTORY
From bookazine no. 2, which has long been sold out, I have put all the articles from this issue online. You can find the full-text articles here #bookazine2
March 2020
Hästens’ history
Hästens, which is Sweden’s oldest bed factory, was founded in 1852 as a saddlery and upholstery by Pehr Adolf Janson in the small town of Hed outside Köping in Sweden. In addition to saddles and harnesses, like many other saddlers at the time he also made crimpy-wool mattresses and leather goods.
Pehr Adolf’s two sons followed in their father’s footsteps and became saddlers. Adolf Fredrik later abandoned the trade to become a politician. His son Per Thure took over the company in 1885.
Changes in consumer patterns led him to focus mainly on mattresses, furniture and cushions, although it would take some years before Hästens completely discontinued its production of saddles and harnesses.
In 1917, the third generation, Per Thure’s son David Janson, got involved in the company. Under his leadership, saddles and harnesses were finally discontinued. That same year, the first logo for the ‘new’ Hästens was designed by David Janson’s cousin Paul Janson, the horse in the logo an obvious reference to the saddler’s legacy.
A common feature for every generation of the family company has been the desire and determination to prioritize craftsmanship and quality materials. A consistent effort to preserve and maintain but also to develop, renew and expand.
In 1920, Hästens outgrew the factory in Hed and moved to Köping.
During the mid 1940s, the company once again needed more room, and Director Janson contacted the English-born architect Ralph Erskine, who at the time was fairly unknown in Sweden. Jansen liked Erskine’s style and commissioned him to design the new factory. The result was a striking modernist building, quite unlike any other factory buildings at the time. Now enjoying iconic status in Sweden’s architectural community, it continues to serve as Hästens’ headquarters and has since been expanded with larger production facilities designed by the same architect and with respect for the original design.
David Janson’s daughter Solveig Ryde, who is fourth generation, was chief finance officer at Hästens for many years. In 1963, she took over daily management together with her husband, Jack Ryde, and accompanied by her younger sisters, Ethel and Yvonne. Jack Ryde, who was interested in art and design, designed the blue-checked Hästens’ fabric pattern in 1978. The pattern was initially met with scepticism but is now a well-established and iconic aspect of the Hästens brand.
In 1988, 10 years after the launch of the blue checks, the couple’s son Jan Ryde took over as CEO. Although he had decided to pursue a university career, he changed course and returned home to manage Hästens. Now with the fifth generation at the helm, Hästens has become a large international company, represented in almost 40 countries. All production still takes place in Köping.
The Ryde family owns the company in order to run it, to move it forward and to keep it.
The sixth generation is already lined up. One of the sons, David Ryde, is a trainee with his father, while another son, Lukas Ryde, works in marketing.
Köping facts
Köping is a city in Västmanland County in Sweden. It has some 17,000 inhabitants, 140 of them working at Hästens. Many families have had ties to the factory for generations.
The dream factory
Where craftsmanship goes hand in hand with large-scale production and a personal touch in Sweden.
With a view of a sky that is bluer than blue, a giant horse on the roof of a beautiful building and a lobby that is old-fashioned without being antiquated and a warm welcome from Julia Alqvist, who is the PR & Event Coordinator at Hästens, and is here to take me on a tour of the factory – we are off to a good start!
Even on my way in, I sense that I am about to be introduced a sincere and honest story about commitment and professional pride, not a story that was ‘cooked up’ in Marketing.
Julia tells me that she has been with the company for about a year, and that before she was allowed to begin her task of communicating Hästens to the world, she trained in every single department in order to understand the company fully.
This training makes it easy for her to explain to me and other visitors what goes on, from work station to work station, and also lets her have a warm and collegial dialogue with the employees we meet on our tour. Employees who are keen and proud to tell me about the stage of the process that they are in charge of. Several also speak of their pride in their workplace and the product and speak with clear conviction of the level of quality that their customers naturally expect and deserve.
An atmosphere of serene calm prevails throughout the production halls. Everyone is focused on performing their work with great precision. I have no intention of romancing factory work, which often involves heavy lifting and monotonous procedures. However, there are no signs of stress, and wherever possible, machines are used to do the heavy lifting. Everything that has to do with the actual product, however, is carried out by human hands.
A Hästens bed is not cheap, but once one has seen how many hours it takes a trained and dedicated professional to make a single bed and handled the high-quality materials that are used, the prices seems very reasonable indeed.
A Hästens bed is made of locally sourced Swedish pinewood and a mattress designed like a sandwich with layers of pocket springs, cotton, wool, linen and last, but not least, crimped horsehair.
Crimpy wool
Most of the horsehair used by Hästens comes from South America. ‘That’s where you get the best quality,’ says Julia. When it is delivered to the factory, it is washed and disinfected, before it is crimped through exposure to pressure and humidity. Afterwards, the wool is sorted according to its properties, some of it used for soft mattresses the rest for harder ones.
In terms of comfort, each crimped horsehair functions as a tiny spring that supports the body during sleep.
Crimpy wool has natural antiseptic properties, contributing to a healthy and hygienic sleeping environment. It even has its own high-efficiency ventilation system, each strand of hair functioning as a tiny air passage: a hollow tube with a microscopic capillary function that lets moisture escape and lets in fresh air.
Premium
Development and quality assurance efforts are a continual process, as it has been for generations; each generation pursuing its own particular dreams and visions.
The fifth generation dreams big. The vision is to enhance the knowledge of Hästens worldwide and to gain recognition for Hästens as a luxury brand. The effort has been successful.
In the factory, the employees are very focused on the premium bed, which is designed to appeal to an even more demanding, luxury-seeking audience than the general quality-conscious Hästens buyer. The new bed is called Vividus. Only the most skilled and experienced workers are work on Vividus. It is made of the best materials money can buy. Everything is handmade, individually adapted and carefully checked, down to the last detail.
There are many, many hand-stitched details in an ‘ordinary’ Hästens bed – and there is an extraordinary number in a Vividus!
This exclusive product is in high demand, particularly from customers in the United States and China, and the new production department is bursting at the seams. Photography is banned throughout the section, and the names of the prominent buyers are only mentioned in whispers, and those who know are sworn to secrecy.
Design collaborations
Another top priority for the fifth generation is design collaborations. Here, Prince Philip and his design firm, Bernadotte & Kylberg, the fashion designer Lars Nilsson and interior designer Ilse Crawford have contributed with variations on the classic blue-checked upholstery and with accessories in the form of bed linen, bed skirts and head board covers..
The collaboration with Ilse Crawford is the one that has most challenged the Hästens aesthetic, as the blue-checked upholstery is completely concealed underneath a hemp cover in a subtle colour scale. It makes the luxury of owning a Hästens bed, Vividus or not, a private matter. Something that is kept under wraps.
After my visit to the factory I spent the night at Hotel Stallmästaregården in Stockholm, which has Hästens beds in all the rooms. Lovely hotel, great bed, really nice trip.
After the bed leaves the factory:
It is one thing to buy quality, quite another to look after one’s quality product.
Hästens recommends the following maintenance schedule:
Flip and rotate your mattress every six to twelve weeks. This ensures that a larger part of the sleeping surface adjusts to your body and sleeping positions. Flip the mattress 180 degrees each time, alternately from left to right and from the head to the foot of the bed.
Massage your bed!
Help your bed retain its comfort longer with periodic massages, p best done before a turn or rotation. Start by rolling your top mattress and setting it to the side. Form your hands into fsts and press down into the bed, moving your hands in an even pattern. Start at the foot and work up towards the head until you’ve massaged the entire surface of the bed.
Hästens’ historie
Hästens, som er Sveriges ældste sengefabrik, blev etableret i 1852 som sadelmageri af Pehr Adolf Janson i den lille by Hed uden for Köping i Sverige. Foruden sadler og seletøj fremstillede han som andre af datidens sadelmagere også krøluldsmadrasser og lædervarer.
Pehr Adolfs to sønner fulgte begge i deres fars fodspor og blev sadelmagere. Adolf Fredrik forlod senere sadelmagerarbejdet for at blive politiker. Sønnen Per Thure overtog virksomheden i 1885.
Ændrede forbrugsvaner førte til, at han lagde sit hovedfokus på madrasser, møbler og puder. Det varede dog yderligere nogle år, inden sadler og seletøj forsvandt helt ud af Hästens’ sortiment.
I 1917 engagerede 3. generation, Per Thures søn David Janson, sig i virksomheden. Under hans lederskab blev der truffet en endegyldig beslutning om helt at ophøre med at producere førnævnte. Samme år blev det første logo til det ’nye’ Hästens tegnet af David Jansons fætter Paul Janson. Logoets hest har en naturlig reference til sadelmagerarven.
Et fælles træk for alle generationer i familievirksomheden har været ønsket om og viljen til at prioritere håndværk og kvalitetsmaterialer. De har villet bevare og forvalte, men samtidig også udvikle, forny og ekspandere.
I 1920 voksede Hästens ud af rammerne i Hed og flyttede til Köping.
I midten af 1940’erne behøvede virksomheden igen mere plads, og direktør Janson kontaktede da den engelskfødte arkitekt Ralph Erskine, som på det tidspunkt var forholdsvis ukendt i Sverige. Erskines stil besnærede Janson, og han fik til opgave at tegne den nye fabrik. Resultatet blev et markant modernistisk bygningsværk, helt anderledes end datidens øvrige fabriksbyggeri. Bygningen har siden fået ikonstatus blandt arkitekter i Sverige og er i øvrigt stadig rammen om Hästens’ hovedkvarter, som siden er udvidet med større produktionsfaciliteter tegnet af samme arkitekt og i respekt for det oprindelige.
David Jansons datter Solveig Ryde, 4. generation, arbejdede under mange år som økonomichef på Hästens. I 1963 overtog hun driftsansvaret sammen med sin mand, Jack Ryde, akkompagneret af lillesøstrene Ethel og Yvonne. Jack Ryde som var kunst- og designinteresseret, designede i 1978 Hästens’ blå tern. Ternen blev først mødt med skepsis, men er nu en veletableret og ikonisk del af varemærket Hästens.
I 1988, 10 år efter lanceringen af de blå tern, overtog sønnen Jan Ryde direktørstolen i virksomheden. På trods af at han havde bestemt sig for en universitetskarriere, ændrede han kurs og vendte hjem for at lede driften af Hästens. Med 5. generation ved roret er Hästens blevet en stor international virksomhed, repræsenteret på knap 40 markeder. Al produktion foregår stadig i Köping.
Familien Ryde ejer virksomheden for at drive den og for at drive den fremad og for at beholde den.
6.generation er allerede linet op. Den ene af sønnerne, David Ryde, er føl hos sin far, en anden søn, Lukas Ryde, arbejder i marketingafdelingen.
Köping fakta
Köping er en by som ligger i Västmanland i Sverige. Byen har ca. 17.000 indbyggere, hvoraf 140 af dem arbejder på Hästens. Mange familier har gennem flere generationer haft tilknytning til fabrikken.
Drømmefabrikken
Hvor håndværk rimer på håndholdt storproduktion i Sverige.
Med udsigt til en himmel, som er mere blå end blå, en gigantisk hest på taget af et smukt bygningsværk og en entré, som er gammeldags, men ikke museal, læg dertil en varm og hjertelig velkomst fra Julia Alqvist, som er PR & Event Coordinator på Hästens, som er mødt op for at vise mig rundt på fabrikken, så er vi er godt begyndt!
Jeg fornemmer allerede på vejen ind, at her bliver jeg præsenteret for en oprigtig og ærlig historie om engagement og faglig stolthed og ikke en historie, som er ’hittet på’ i marketingafdelingen.
Julia fortæller, at hun har været ansat i virksomheden i et års tid, og at inden hun fik lov til at påbegynde sit job, som indebærer at kommunikere Hästens til hele verden, så var hun på oplæring i alle afdelinger for at forstå virksomheden til bunds.
Den oplæring betyder dels, at hun let kan forklare mig og andre besøgende, hvad der foregår fra arbejdsstation til arbejdsstation, dels at hun har en varm og kollegial dialog med de medarbejdere, vi møder undervejs. Medarbejdere, som i øvrigt beredvilligt og med stolthed fortæller mig om den del af processen, de tager vare på. Flere fortæller også om stoltheden over deres arbejdsplads og over deres produkt, og de taler med overbevisning i stemmen om den kvalitet, deres kunder selvfølgelig forventer og har krav på.
Der hersker en ophøjet ro i produktionslokalerne. Alle er fordybet i at udføre deres arbejde med akkuratesse. Nok skal jeg ikke romantisere fabriksarbejdet, som i flere processer indebærer tunge løft og monotone arbejdsgange. Men stress er der ikke, og hvor der er mulighed for det, er der maskiner til hjælp med det tunge. Alt det, som handler om at fremstille produktet derimod, er udført af menneskehænder.
En Hästens-seng hører ikke til i den billige ende, men når man har set, hvor mange timer det kræver for en dedikeret håndværker at fremstille en enkelt seng, og når man har haft fingrene i de gedigne materialer, som indgår, så forekommer prisen endog meget rimelig.
En Hästens-seng består af lokalt svensk fyrretræ og af madrasser, som efter sandwichprincippet er bygget op af posefjedre, bomuld, uld og hør og sidst, men ikke mindst, af krøllet hestehår.
Krøluld
Hestehåret, som Hästens anvender, kommer primært fra Sydamerika. ”Der får man den bedste, kvalitet,” fortæller Julia. Når det kommer ind på fabrikken, vaskes og desinficeres det, hvorefter det under tryk i høj luftfugtighed permanentkrølles. Herefter sorteres ulden efter dens egenskaber, noget til bløde madrasser, andet til hårde.
I forhold til komforten, så fungerer hvert eneste krølhår som en lille fjeder, der støtter kroppen under søvnen.
Krølhår har naturlige antibakterielle egenskaber og bidrager til et sundt og hygiejnisk sovemiljø, og det har sit eget meget effektive, ventilationssystem. Hvert hårstrå fungerer som en lille luftpassage: Et hult rør med en mikroskopisk kapillærfunktion, som leder fugten bort og lukker frisk luft ind.
Premium
Arbejdet med at udvikle og kvalitetssikre er en løbende proces, sådan har det været i generationer. Hver generation sine drømme og visioner.
5. generation har drømt stort. Visionen har været at øge kendskabet til Hästens globalt og at få fodfæste som luksusbrand. Det er lykkedes.
På fabrikken er personalet meget optaget af deres premium-seng, som er lanceret til et endnu mere kræsent, endnu mere luksushungrende publikum end det gængse kvalitetsbevidste Hästens-publikum. Denne seng kalder de Vividus. Kun de absolut dygtigste og mest erfarne medarbejdere laver Vividus. Kun de bedste materialer, som kan købes for penge indgår. Alt er håndholdt og individuelt tilpasset, og alt er kontrolleret i mindste detalje.
Der er rigtig mange håndsyede detaljer på en ’almindelig’ Hästens-seng, der er ualmindelig mange håndsyninger på en Vividus!
Der er stor efterspørgsel på dette luksusprodukt, især fra USA og Kina, og denne produktionsafdeling vokser, så det knager. Der er fotoforbud i de hellige haller, og navnene på de prominente købere bliver kun hvisket i krogene, og de, som ved besked, har tavshedspligt.
Designsamarbejder
En anden af 5. generations prioriteringer er designsamarbejderne. Her har Prins Philip og hans designvirksomhed Bernadotte & Kylberg, modedesigneren Lars Nilsson og indretningsdesigner Ilse Crawford bidraget med både variationer over det klassiske blåternede sengebetræk og med tilbehør i form af sengetøj, sengekapper og gavlbetræk.
Samarbejdet med Ilse Crawford er det, som skubber mest til Hästens-æstetikken, idet det blåternede betræk skjules helt under en kappe fremstillet af hamp i en douche farveskala. På den måde er den luksus, det er at eje en Hästens seng, Vividus eller ej, et privat anliggende. Noget, man så at sige bærer under kappen!
Jeg afsluttede mit besøg ved at tage til Stockholm og overnatte på Hotel Stallmästaregården, som har Hästens-senge på alle værelser. Dejligt hotel, god seng, virkelig fin tur.
Når sengen har forladt fabrikken:
Et er at købe kvalitet, et andet er at passe på sit kvalitetsprodukt.
Hästens foreskriver, at man passer på sin seng således:
Vend og roter madrassen hver 6.-12. uge for at få den optimale anvendelse. At vende sikrer, at en større del af soveoverfladen tilpasser sig til din krop og dine sovestillinger. Drej madrassen 180 grader hver gang, skiftevis fra højre til venstre og fra hovedende til fodende.
Giv din seng massage!
Din seng bliver ved at være komfortabel, når du masserer den regelmæssigt. Det bedste tidspunkt er, før du vender eller roterer den. Begynd med at rulle topmadrassen sammen og sætte den til side. Knyt hænderne, og tryk ned på sengen, samtidig med at du bevæger hænderne i et jævnt mønster. Begynd ved fodenden og arbejd dig op mod hovedgærdet, til du har masseret hele sengens overflade.
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