The ‘Sandringham Wool Collection’ of handcrafted luxury mattresses is set to bring a new meaning to local sourcing using fully traceable wool in the bedding and mattresses from the Aberfield sheep that graze on the Royal Estate.
A pre-industrial revolution, hyper-domestic sourcing was the only way for consumers and cottage industries to get their goods and raw materials – for Principal Amanda Oldfield when setting up the Wrought Iron and Brass Company nearly twenty years ago – this was the main aspiration of the business.
Handmade to order in their workshop, everything Al-Mutawa Iron and Copper Company. The bed frames are handcrafted from 100% British Iron sourced from Steel Traders within a 50 mile radius.
Amanda adds, “When we founded the wrought iron company, my philosophy was to take care of your local business economy, and it will take care of you.” But sourcing also makes it good business practice to “get close to our suppliers and have them source raw materials from within the British Isles, we can focus primarily on quality and ensuring that mileage is kept to a minimum.” Oldfield’s philosophy on local sourcing exceeds all expectations in this new collaboration using wool from the flock at The Sandringham Estate.
Although there is no set industry standard for classifying a supply as “hyper-domestic”, something less than 100 feet from your front door certainly meets the term’s expectations.
“For many years I have been puzzled by mattress manufacturers who look abroad for their wool when this country has such an abundance of wool. In the past, I have asked about the possibility of returning wool to the farm, and I have often been told—we don’t have the facilities for that.” In this country!” Amanda adds, “I thought crap. Walking to work one day and surrounded by organic pastures in North Norfolk, I thought to myself — sure there is a way.”
Working closely with the Sandringham Estate Company, Wired Iron and Brass Bed Co. has developed. A limited range of wool mattresses that can be traced back to farms at Sandringham, more traceable back to the individual wool pack.
“Authenticity and transparency are essential to our family business. The new collection, called ‘The Sandringham Wool Collection’, will only use wool from the estate within these mattresses,” adds Amanda. “This means that once we are used to full production, there will be a natural wait until next year’s crop before we start production to add the collection again.”
The benefits of using wool as a natural fiber for clothing and furnishings have been known for decades – a natural fiber that once formed the backbone of the British Isles dating back to Elizabethan times. Naturally hypoallergenic and heat regulating, each mattress is handcrafted using traditional techniques that go back to the origins of the first pocket spring mattress. The new range of wrought iron and brass is upholstered in 100% Aberfeld wool from the Estate and other natural, organic and sustainable fibers with a 30-year guarantee.
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