Vi Spring Bedstead Realm and Artisan Naturals comparison

Hi Richard.

 

Good question, although this information can be easily gleaned from the product description.  In order to do value for money comparisons, you need to know the spring spring type/count and the overall upholstery weight of the mattress (GSM– grams per square meter).  Ideally, the breakdown of upholstery and associated weights will give you everything you need to know.

If we look at the Vi-Spring Bedstead Realm: And So To Bed – £2815 for Super King Size (Aug 2018)  “1.52mm wire springs, 54mm in diameter, (1638 in a SKS) sewn in individual calico pockets and hand-formed into a honeycomb nested unit. Upholstered with a wool spring protector pad, then 1,350gsm bonded British fleece wool and cotton, overlaid with 300gsm British fleece wool, 200gsm bamboo and finally 900gsm of blended British fleece wool and cotton.  Covered with your choice of finest quality Belgian ticking from the Vi-Spring collection.  Hand-tufted with felt washers. The basic details you can glean from this is that there is a combined upholstery weight of 2750 gsm (plus the wool insulator pad which can be assumed to be 500gsm) bringing the total weight to 3250 gsm.

The Vi-Spring Traditional Bedstead has the following specification: And So To Bed – £1435 for Super King Size(Aug 2018) 1.52mm wire springs, 56mm in diameter, (1558 in an SKS) sewn in individual calico pockets and hand-formed into a honeycomb nested unit.  Upholstered with a wool spring protector pad, then 1350 gsm bonded British fleece wool and cotton, overlaid with two layers of 900 gsm blended British fleece wool and cotton.  Covered with your choice of finest quality Belgian ticking from the Vi-Spring collection. Hand tufted with felt washers.  The basic details you can glean from this is that there is a combined upholstery weight of 3150 gsm and again assume the wool insulator pad is around 500 gsm bringing the total weight to 3650 gsm.

So what’s happening here?

The starter model (Traditional Bedstead) although having a greater overall upholstery weight (3650 gsm) is retailing cheaper (by £760) than the next model up (Bedstead Realm) having an overall upholstery weight of 3250 gsm.  As of now, it looks like The Traditional Bedstead is offering more mattress for your money.  So we have to look into the detail and see how this is possible: Both mattresses utilise the wool spring protector pad – incidentally, this is the only visible difference between their (Vi-Spring) Bedstead Range and their core range – but this is for another post!

Bedstead Realm [BR]: 1350 gsm Bonded British Fleece Wool and Cotton. Trad Bedstead [TB]: 1350 gsm Bonded British Fleece Wool and Cotton [BR] 300 gsm British Fleece Wool [TB] 900 gsm Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton [BR] 200 gsm Bamboo [BR] 900 gsm Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton [TB] 900 gsm Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton.

And there we have it.  A simple side by side comparison shows you that The Traditional Bedstead is a better buy than the next model up in the range – The Bedstead Realm.  The difference in spring count is so nominal it should not even be a consideration.  Is the 300 gsm British Fleece Wool better than the blend 900 gsm of Fleece Wool and Cotton?  The addition of 200 gsm Bamboo [BR] is again a nominal amount – quite unlikely to improve the overall feel of the mattress when compared to the difference in amount (400 gsm) of the Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton.  Intrinsically, these are the same mattresses.  The only difference is the utilisation of British Wool and Bamboo instead of Blended Wool and Cotton.

By opting for The TB the £760 you save could be used to purchase additional upholstery in the form of a removable mattress topper.

 

 

And so to your question of how our Artisan Naturals compares?

Super King Size: £1515 (Aug 2018) 1.28mm wire springs, 49mm in diameter, (1974 in a SKS) sewn in individual calico pockets and hand-formed into a honeycomb nested unit.  Upholstered with 1500 gsm Mohair, then 1250 gsm Poly Cotton, overlaid with 1200 gsm Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton.  Combined upholstery weight of 3950 gsm.

By comparing the upholstery layers of the  Vi-Spring Traditional Bedstead and our Artisan Naturals we can see which is offering you the better value for money: [TB] 500 gsm (assumed) Wool spring protector pad [TB] 1350 gsm Bonded British Fleece Wool and Cotton [AN] 1500 gsm Mohair. [TB] 900 gsm Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton [AN] 1250 gsm Poly-Cotton (50% Polyester and 50% Cotton) [TB] 900 gsm Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton [AN] 1200 gsm Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton.

1) If we take the insulating layer (the material directly on top of the springs) I would say our 1500 gsm Mohair would trump the wool spring protector pad and the bonded wool and cotton.

2) I concede that the Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton is a better product than Poly Cotton – However, the poly cotton is a more supportive product than Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton.  Realistically, the cotton element is in fact 600 gsm.

3) As the final comfort layer is so similar to be practically identical, the 1200 gsm obviously trumps the 900 gsm.

Looking at these two models side by side they are similar enough to make adequate and educated comparisons.  In theory, I could manufacture our Artisan Naturals to have 1200 gsm Blended Wool and Cotton rather than the Poly Cotton but our findings are is that this will make the mattress upholstery too soft.  There has to be an element of support within the upholstery (horsehair is used for this purpose on the higher end models – ours and Vi Springs – so the validy of this statement is there).  The support element gained from the Polly Cotton is greater than the support element of Blended British Fleece Wool and Cotton.

 

I hope this is helpful and if you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact the office on 0161 437 4419.  Our office hours are 8 am – 8 pm Monday to Friday and 10 am – 4 pm Saturday and Sunday.

 

Kind Regards

Michaela