Sleep Fit for Royalty: Vispring Brings a Century of British Bedmaking to High Street Armadale

High Street Armadale has long been Melbourne’s most considered stretch of shopfronts — heritage façades, plane trees, the rumble of the tram, and a quiet confidence that money spent here should last. At 1227 High Street that confidence now has a new expression. Vispring, the British house that pioneered the pocket-sprung mattress in 1901 and has dressed the beds of royalty, ocean liners and athletes ever since, has opened its Australian flagship here.

The name is easy to misspell. It is Vispring — from the Roman numeral VI, a nod to the six turns historically given to each spring wire. The product is harder to forget.

 

A bed invented out of love

The story begins in 1901 with James Marshall, an English engineer who wanted a more comfortable night’s sleep for his unwell wife. His answer was the world’s first mattress of individually pocketed springs: each coil wrapped by hand so that it could move independently of its neighbour. That idea still sits at the centre of every Vispring bed.

More than 200 craftspeople now work in the Plymouth workshop in Devon. Techniques have been handed down through generations. Springs are nested in a honeycomb pattern. Natural fillings — Real Shetland wool, Platinum-certified British fleece wool, cashmere, mulberry and tussah silk, horsetail, long-fibre cotton, bamboo and, at the very top of the range, vicuña — are teased, layered and stitched by hand. The sides of each mattress receive rows of genuine hand side-stitching, a slow, physical process that gives the edge its strength and the sleeper full-surface support.

Time, the brand likes to say, is the most generous ingredient.

 

Those materials are not marketing garnish. Shetland and British fleece wool regulate temperature and wick moisture. Horsetail, sourced from Austria and South America, behaves like a set of miniature springs and keeps its loft for years. Cashmere is collected in the natural moulting season. Vicuña, the rare Andean fibre once reserved for Inca royalty, appears in the most exclusive models. The result is a mattress that is breathable, hypoallergenic and designed to last decades rather than a product cycle.

Vispring beds travelled on the Titanic and the Queen Mary. They have been the choice of Princess Diana and remain, the company notes, the luxury brand on which members of the British Royal Family continue to rest. Real Madrid players have slept on them. So, closer to home, has Rebecca Judd.

The Armadale showroom

The Melbourne flagship opened in early 2025 at 1227 High Street. Interior design is by State of Play Studio. White-smoked timber flooring by Woodcut runs through the foyer; deeper carbonised oak anchors the Diamond Majesty display. A Breccia Tramonto stone benchtop by Signorino adds a soft blush vein to the counter. The space is deliberately serene — closer to a private salon than a conventional furniture floor.

Eight mattresses are available to lie on. Sleep specialists guide visitors through tension (soft, medium, firm, extra firm), fillings and the pairing of mattress, divan and headboard. More than 100 fabrics are offered. Headboards, legs, toppers and pillows complete the composition. Walk-ins are welcome during regular hours; private appointments are encouraged for anyone who wants an unhurried fitting.

Showroom manager Abby has described the brief simply: the room should feel consistent with Vispring’s international flagships, and every mattress should be understood as something made to last decades.

 

What you can buy

The Australian range covers the Luxe and Classic collections. Names such as Diamond Majesty, Opulence, Magnificence, Signatory, Tiara Superb, Marquess Superb and Renaissance sit at the upper end; Herald Superb and Regal Superb offer the same handmade method at a slightly more approachable point. Published prices for complete beds in Australia have ranged from around $20,000 to $220,000, depending on size, tension, fillings and the chosen fabrics and base.

Every piece is made to order in Devon and shipped to Australia. Clients and interior designers can specify dimensions, spring tensions and coverings so the bed sits correctly in a particular room. Complimentary fabric swatches — up to six — are available for made-to-order pieces.

 

Rebecca Judd, one of the first Australians to specify a Vispring for a Mornington Peninsula project, put it this way: “As a busy entrepreneur, I really don’t look after my sleep as much as I should, and I really struggle to get seven hours a night, so when I do, it’s always so incredible to sleep on a Vispring mattress. It is pure luxe. Even when you look at the mattress, it is like observing an artwork, the most gorgeous quality product and made by hand.”

Managing Director Martin Gill, speaking at the Australian launch, was equally direct: “Sleep is the foundation of wellbeing, and our mattresses are designed to transform the way people rest and recover. From palaces to penthouses, Vispring mattresses are unrivalled in their quality and comfort.”

The launch itself drew Mick Doohan, Rebecca Maddern, Larry Kestelman and Rory Lobb, among others — a reminder that the brand’s Australian audience is the same mix of athletes, business owners and design-conscious households it has always served elsewhere.

 

Why High Street Armadale

Armadale is not an accidental address. The precinct already attracts people who buy fewer things and expect those things to be well made — fashion houses, galleries, interiors studios, and neighbours such as Sheridan Boutique, James Said and Blakeaway a few doors along. A Vispring bed is a decade-plus decision. High Street is used to those conversations.

The showroom also works as a resource for the city’s interior designers. Fabric libraries, headboard profiles and the ability to specify a bed as part of a whole-room scheme make it as useful to the trade as to a couple who have simply decided their current mattress has had its day.

 

A visit

You do not need to know the difference between horsetail and vicuña before you walk through the door. The point of the showroom is to lie down, compare tensions, and let the specialist translate the language of fillings into how your back and shoulders actually feel.

Appointments can be booked by telephone. Brochures can be requested through the Australian website. The beds themselves remain what they have been since 1901: handmade in Devon, finished by people who still use a needle and thread on the side of a mattress, and built on the modest idea that a good night’s sleep is worth the time it takes to make properly.

Vispring Luxury Beds — Australian Flagship

1227 High Street, Armadale VIC 3143

Telephone: (03) 7043 1888
Email: info@vispring.com.au
Website: https://www.vispring.com/australia/
Instagram: @vispringaustralia and @vispringbeds

Opening hours
Monday: by appointment only
Tuesday–Friday: 10am–6pm
Saturday: 10am–5pm
Sunday: by appointment only

Walk-ins welcome during advertised hours. Private appointments recommended.