How We Designed and Built The World's Finest Bed Base

After 13 years of dedication to creating luxurious, supportive, comfortable and tailored Luxury Mattresses, we our immensely proud to finally deliver what we believe is the perfect mattress…

The John Ryan Legacy is truly a groundbreaking celebration of British origin and heritage, designed meticulously to bring you the serene and soothing night’s sleep that you deserve, everyday.

We put everything we have into creating the world’s most exquisite, all-Natural sleeping system with the Legacy Mattress. That of course includes designing and building the finest bed base around.

Two years of tailored design

It took two years, combined with decades of experience and expertise to design and build the bed base for the Legacy Mattress. We brought together only the highest quality materials, to provide exceptional functionality and a superior interior design aesthetic.

Each intricate detail of the bed base mattered the most to us, and every function and aspect of it was redesigned to make it as seamless as possible. We chose only Natural British Fibres to upholster the handmade wooden base, using a careful blend of British Heritage wool fibres, which were uniquely woven and dyed. The beautiful bed base needed to be irresistible to the touch, but it also needed to provide the most comforting feeling through its soft and smooth wool material.

Crafting the base frame and recessed spring unit

We didn’t want to cut any corners or use any imported materials when it came to constructing the Legacy base frame. Therefore we ensured that the wooden frame was completely handmade, crafted by experts from Forestry Stewardship Council assured timber. The base frame was jointed not screwed, and the wood pressure treated in order to stop it from warping, then very carefully dried to prevent any shrinkage.

When it comes to mattress bases, there has always been a complex balance between comfort and practicality. This is because the overall bed height can become an issue when using a lot of high-end natural fibre fillings. We didn’t want our Legacy mattress to be constrained by height issues, so we chose to recess the mattress base spring unit.

The result was the most progressive and supportive mattress experience possible, with a base spring unit that consisted of:

1300 1.6 gauge, vanadium coated Calico pocket springs, made specially in Yorkshire.
Upholstered with 1200 GSM of pure English Swaledale Wool from Edward Clay.
Then finished with 1200 GSM of fine Luxury Cashmere for the soft and breathable top layer.

We wanted the carbon footprint as low as possible, which is why the all-Natural upholstery fibres we used are predominantly British. Using small specialist British farms and fibre mills here in the UK.

Incorporating an extra layer of progressive support

Even though we could fit in more natural fibres into the Legacy mattress than ever thanks to the recessed base spring unit, we still weren’t satisfied. So, we also designed a first of its kind mattress base pad, which utilised the perfect ratio of fibre layers to supporting springs, without competing with the main mattress or the sprung edge base. Incorporating this innovative base pad between the bed-frame and the upper mattress, allowed us to further extend the support and subtle reactivity of the whole unit.

Using a combination of vanadium coated Calico pocket springs, pure Swaledale Wool, and soft Alpaca fleece, we created a bespoke mattress base pad that increased progressive comfort, perfectly supported even the lightest of sleepers, and extended the longevity of the whole mattress.

Introducing the ‘Tooth-lock’ system

We believe style should never be compromised for practicality. So with this in mind, we avoided the use of a visible linking bar in our bespoke bed base design. Instead we wanted a continuous run of beautiful natural wool upholstery using our ‘Tooth-lock’ system, which employed metal teeth hidden under the base to lock the two parts of the bed together securely. A simple switch could then be pushed to separate the bases anytime.

It didn’t stop there, as we also wanted the feet of the bed base to be of the finest quality too, so we sourced the famous British Castors from Archibald Kenrick & Sons. The solid metal castors were expertly made to our exact technical specifications at their factory in West Bromwich. By choosing the screw thread grommet and screw arm fixing, as opposed to the cheaper pressed socket and arm fixings, we made it possible to remove the castors easily when needed. Plus, the Legacy mattress base also has a model with contemporary steel glides if preferred.

Using the best of British for the finest bed base

Only the smoothest and most elegant finish would suffice for our Legacy bed base and headboard, which is why we worked with Mitchell Interflex in the North West, to create a naturally stunning (reversed these words to make it read a bit better) woven wool fabric. After it has been sheared and cleaned, the soft wool is then dyed to create our two soft blend signature colours, York Stone Grey and Chorley Cream. Both these natural wool fabrics perfectly complement both a contemporary or traditional room aesthetic.

All of these innovative and bespoke elements came together to create the one of a kind Legacy sprung edge base and base pad. From our lifespan and comfort increasing recessed base, to our ‘Tooth-lock’ system. Every part of our intricate design and building process ensured that we were creating something special for our sleepers.

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