‘Royal Bed’ Billed as World’s Most Expensive
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ABC News(NEW YORK) — It’s being billed as the “World’s Most Expensive Bed” and at $175,000, let’s hope that’s the case.
Unveiled in New York City earlier this week, the so-called Royal Bed by luxury bed maker Savoir takes 700 hours of labor to make.
“We wanted to create the very best,” said Alistair Hughes, managing director of Savoir Beds. “It’s inspired by the beds of the 16- and 1700s of the British royal family. At that time, the bed was the center of everything. If you wanted to see the king you had to come to the bedroom. The bed was sort of like the throne. It was the only thing other than the throne you had to bow at.”
The box spring and mattress is made of Latin American horse tail, Mongolian cashmere and enough specially woven silk to be strung from New York to Miami and almost halfway back again. That’s unlike most beds, which are made from foam.
“Foam isn’t good because it holds the body heat and you get too hot in bed,” said Jonathan Mason, master craftsman with Savoir Beds. “Horse hair regulates your body temperature by drawing the heat out of you.”
The Royal Bed is fully customizable. Each side of the bed can be made with a different firmness depending on each person’s size and whether they favor a soft or hard mattress.
It also comes with a family crest — or the crest of anything you choose. The crest alone takes 70 hours of labor and is made by the Royal School of Needlework, the same people that worked on Kate Middleton’s wedding dress.
Only 60 of the beds will be made, a nod to the 60th anniversary of the queen’s coronation. And who, exactly, is buying one of these $175,000 beds?
“They’re a person who has a number of properties and do a number of different things. They will be clearly very wealthy and enjoy the very best of everything,” said Hughes.
But the Royal Bed is more than a status symbol.
“Sleep is fundamental to it,” he said. “Whatever it looks like, you need a good’s night sleep. Sleep is so important to all of us. If you got into it and it was gold-plated and felt terrible, no one would want it. You sleep in it eight hours a night, hopefully.”
“Ultimately, it comes down to comfort,” Hughes said. “That’s what people are buying into.”
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