Hastens - Craftsmanship
The cotton-tassel-tier lives in Koping. And, with a bit of luck, you may also see the horsetail-hair-ruffler in its natural habitat.
Making a special bed requires a number of special occupations. Some of them don't even exist outside our factory in Koping. You've probably not heard of mid-stitchers, fabric-rackers, cotton-tassel-tiers or horsetail-hair-ruffiers.
These are such unusual jobs that we must methodically train each specialist ourselves from scratch.
For example, in our mattress department there are five different workstations where different elements of the mattress are worked on. An apprentice in this department is assigned to one station. They begin their work there on a test mattress under the close supervision of a master craftsman. So at the horsetail-hair-ruffling station, for example, they would learn the craft and art of gently ruffling the horsetail hair by hand to work it into even, well-sprung layers.
This is not something that can be mastered in a week. Or even a year for that matter.
The apprentice must do more than learn the steps. They must develop a genuine feel for their work. That takes about two years (3,500 working hours) of supervised training before they are deemed ready by the station master. It's then, and only then, that the apprentice is allowed to work that station on their own.
For this reason, our workers can't just hop over to another workstation to help out. We're a close-knit team, but we're a team of specialists.
So, what does a cotton-tassel-tier do, then? Well, the cotton-tassel-tier is an expert on keeping things together, at least as far as our beds are concerned. The cotton-tassle-tier places the mattress between two large panels to compress it. Each side of the panel has corresponding holes positioned at precisely-calculated support points. Using these holes as a guide, the cotton-tassel-tier carefully passes a large needle and thread through the compressed mattress until the thread appears out the other side. Once the thread has been successfully drawn through the mattress, a cotton tassel is tied on each end. When the mattress is released from compression, the thread is pulled taught as depressions form around the tassels. This creates the characteristic dimpled surface and stabilizes all the layers of the mattress laterally.
To learn what the mid-stitchers and fabric-rackers do, we invite you to tour our workshop in Sweden.
Spread Image
Copy: The story of our beds begins in the cradle.
(The Gudaj Family on the Left) - (The Tapper Family on the Right)
Page 42
Hastens is a family company in many ways. First because the Ryde family has run it for five generations. But just as important are the other families who, together, make up the Hastens family. For many people in Koping, working at Hastens is a decision formed from childhood. Knowing that your grandmother built a bed for a princess in a distant land naturally inspires. But it also provides children in this town with a compass and a code: Hard work and the relentless pursuit of perfection pay dividends for yourself and the ones you love. That is why the profession of bed master is often handed down.
THE TAPPER FAMILY
Three generations of the Tapper family are just one example.
Jennie Tapper works as a cutter and team captain at our sewing department. She started at Hastens as a seamstress 23 years ago - just a few months after her mother Yvonne. That was a whole 35 years after Jennie's grandmother Gun-Britt stopped working here. And soon more people in Jennie's generation joined us: her partner Anders plus her brother Jimmy and his wife Jessica. A few years later, Jennie's little sister Karin and Jessica's father Olle took positions with us. And a few years ago, the next generation came along after having gotten their feet wet in a summer job: Jennie's daughter Amanda and her niece Hanna.
Today, a total of eight people in her family work together at Hastens (not to mention the ro8 other skilled craftsmen here). Every day. Year after year.
How is it going? "We are developing all the time, thanks to the fact that Hastens invests so much in their staff. And almost everyone in the family works in different departments, so despite having the same workplace, there is still reason to ask each other how it was at work when we go home," says Jennie Tapper, adding that they are all extremely proud to work at Hastens and feel a strong passion for the beds they create.
THE GUDAJ FAMILY
Another "Hastens family" is the Gudaj family, with two generations of bed builders.
Going from buttons to needle and thread may seem like a small step. But for Emir Gudaj it was a giant leap. He worked in a car factory where robots did everything except pressing the buttons that controlled them. That was Emir's task.
Since Emir appreciates well thought-out, patient craftsmanship, he applied to work here
at Hastens. First he worked at the top mattress department, but soon moved on to middle mattresses. Scuffing, assembling, applying the bolster fabric, and tassel-tying was fun - but Emir soon discovered what he liked most of all at Hastens:
"Side-stitching! And my colleagues here at work."
His joy working here attracted his father Ismet to join us. And then his sister Saha. And then his sister Amanda. And then Safeta, his uncle's wife. And then his cousin Mensur.
Today, Emir is the vice team captain for his department and travels around the world to trade fairs in order to showcase his exceptional knowledge in side-stitching.
(Incidentally: Emir has one other sister.
No pressure, sis, but when are you going to start working here?)
So, exactly how hard is it to build a Hastens?
It takes an extremely long time, but every second feels meaningful when you are obsessed with creating a truly world-class bed. Just building a single Vividus requires at least 350 hours of work by our craftsmen - not including the time it takes to prepare the horsetail hair, wool, cotton and flax, or create the steel springs, wooden frame and fabric.
On the following pages, you'll find the key steps to our production process. Each is constantly being refined with the goal of creating beds that provide you with more restful nights and wakeful days.
If any step is not perfect, then we have to start over. Every employee has the authority to stop production at any time if they see even the tiniest error. This may help you understand the one, most important skill that each of our craftsman must master: patience.
