At the Savoir Bedworks factory in north-west London, Arjoon, the Works Foreman, has just started on his next mattress remake. Examining the label on the exquisite mattress he is working on, he recognises his own initials. “That’s definitely mine,” he says. “That’s my handwriting; that’s the way I do my fours!” Arjoon first made this (a No 4) mattress in 1998, the year after The Savoy Bedworks – founded in 1905 to supply bespoke beds to the famous London hotel – was acquired by current owners Alistair Hughes and Stephen Winston, prompting the name change to Savoir Beds.
“When Savoir took over there were only three of us,” says Arjoon. Now he is the last of the original Savoy craftsmen still working here. But he’s far from alone in this bustling, cheerful, diverse workplace. “We started taking on more staff,” he says. “And I’ve trained nearly all of them!” There are now almost 100 people at the company, with over 50 craftspeople involved in making beds by hand in the traditional way, using only natural materials. These include horsetail, cashmere, sheep’s wool, cotton and even Mongolian yak hair for the toppers; wooden canes attached to box springs with old-style oiled-flax cord, as used by archers at the Battle of Agincourt.
Arjoon (“It’s just Arjoon – I’m from Mauritius, and in the workplace everyone calls you by your surname, so I’ve always been Arjoon”) was 23 when he joined in 1987. While the company has grown significantly since then, Savoir takes pride in making fewer than 1,000 beds per year, ensuring it takes the time on each job to maximise the quality without cutting corners.
Training typically takes at least a year to teach an apprentice the techniques necessary for making a bed base, three years if you include mattresses and headboards. “We train everyone on preparation first – cutting the material, so they get to know all the different components that go in a mattress,” says Arjoon. “From there we move them on. They can choose to specialise in making the topper, the mattress or the bases. Some people have a real knowledge of stitching or tying the knots on the base already, so they pick it up quicker.” Because of this, there is no set demographic that Savoir looks for in its workforce. “Any age can do it – and it’s good if they have some experience. Look at TJ, he joined in his late fifties.”
TJ Brown joined in 2000, fed up with the music industry (he was previously a professional keyboardist, touring the world with his band). He had also taught himself to be a tailor and still makes his own clothes, so when he saw an advertisement in the local Jobcentre for people with sewing skills, he applied and got the job at Savoir. “After a while Alistair, the Managing Director, said, ‘TJ do you want to do something else?’ So he put me on making springs. Then I moved on to making bed bases and then mattresses. I’m a jack of all trades.”
And, it should be added, a Master Mattress Maker. Part of his role involves demonstrating his craft at various industry fairs and Savoir events. “I just think I’m very good at it,” he says. “If they want someone to elaborate on the process, I’m the man they come to, because I can talk! And I present myself well. They see the way I dress – I make everything I wear myself – and they can see that I put care and attention into what I do, just the same as making beds.”
> Photography by Sam Walton
