Pocket-Sprung Comfort

Text by Atrium Magazin für Wohnkultur, Design und Architektur
Schlieren, Switzerland
19.08.14

SCHRAMM beds bring their owners a whole lot closer to heaven on earth.

The design of “Grand Cru Prado” is just as unusual as the excellent sleeping comfort provided by the entire product line. Master craftsmen put approximately 100 hours into the production of a single bed.

Whilst handcrafted production may mean different things to different people, it doesn’t necessarily trigger associations with recently constructed and impressively sized buildings such as those belonging to Schramm Werkstätten GmbH. Back in 1923, however, the firm started out on a much smaller scale – as an upholstery and saddlery workshop. Today, the handmade bed producer employees around 160 people at its Winnweiler site. Last year, it considerably extended the new building constructed in 1999, thus doubling its manufacturing capacity. Perfectly organised production flows provide support for all the manual processes and technologies, whilst the spacious and light-flooded workshops create an extremely positive work climate.

Axel Schramm is the third generation of his family to run the company.

Schramm beds stand for contemporary elegance, optimal sleeping comfort, perfect workmanship, premium materials and customisation to individual requirements. That explains the size of the workforce. Schramm’s ingenious dual mattress system, for instance, is not an anonymous mass-produced product but an individually made solution that enhances its owners’ quality of life. But it’s not merely a question of customising the measurements and surfaces of the headboard and frame. The pocket spring mattress is of the utmost importance, because ultimately it’s all about the human being – his anatomy, his weight and his sleeping habits. The family-run company’s core expertise thus lies in ingenious spring configurations and the finely tuned interaction between the adaptable upper and sturdy lower mattresses.

The steel springs with 6, 9 or 12 turns pass through many hands and processing stages and have a direct impact on the comfort provided by the mattress.

Four product lines are successfully positioned on the market: “Purebeds”, featuring a clear-cut design for people who appreciate essentials; “Origins”, with a wide selection of headboards, surrounds, valances and feet; “Grand Cru” with its unique and luxurious triple-tier construction, made up of a webbed and sprung base, an intermediate and an upper mattress; and, finally, “Savoy”, a line of beds for upmarket hotels that can adapt their looks to suit their setting.

Schramm beds owe their optimal comfort to features like manual or motorised adjustability with ergonomic mattress positioning.

“Opal” is one of this year’s new additions to the “Basis/Origins” collection; the mattress rests on an upholstered “tray” without a surrounding frame.

Handcrafted production techniques play a key role in all these product lines. That might mean hand-finishing the wood used to build a frame, producing a mattress by sewing each individual spring into its own calico pocket and then adding layers of breathable natural materials to the upper surface, or perhaps making a bespoke or elaborately button-tufted headboard.

The hand-produced hourglass springs in the base of the “Grand Cru” series are elaborately webbed and tied by hand.

“Loft” from the “Purebeds” collection. Even this entry-level model offers sleep seekers the benefits of the dual mattress system.

The company’s highly attractive on-site showroom provides an insight into the many and varied design options resulting from the form and outer material. But one thing never changes: a Schramm bed is always more than “just” an exquisite piece of furniture.

The “Basis/Origins” collection also includes “Corner”, a bed with a striking, space-structuring headboard.