It took pride of place in the middle of Harvey Norman's bedding department at Mount Maunganui.
The handcrafted Beautyrest Black bed arrived on the shop floor yesterday from the Auckland-based designer, Dean Rope of Dunlop Living, and immediately became the centre of attention.
Shoppers stared at it, especially the precisely-cut Swarovski crystals onthe sides of the mattress and base, and others lay on it to test the comfort.
Beautyrest Black may be the best bed in the world, technology-wise. It was displayed for the first time in the country at the Harvey Norman store in the HomeZone Shopping Centre at Bayfair.
The king size is retailing for $16,500.
Anthony Kerebs, proprietor of the bedding department at Harvey Norman, was confident of selling the expensive bed, and others, to local wealthy customers. He's keen to show two of the beds at a time - one will have a black leather base - on his shop floor.
"There's always people who want to go to the very top, irrespective of what the economy is doing," Kerebs said. "I'll be ringing three or four people and asking them to come and try the new bed.
"When I was in Palmerston North, we used to send our expensive beds to the Mount because of demand."
Hand on heart, Kerebs said the inner-sprung Beautyrest Black was one of the nicest beds he's laid on. It was technologically advanced. It had a soft feel - not the marshmallow effect - but it was still well-supported.
"The bed doesn't engulf you," he said.
It is made of triple woven springs, advanced memory foam, progressive latex with s anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and alpaca fibres offset by the sparkling, hand-rivetted crystals.
The foam is pre-crushed three times and eliminates the body impressions that form in the bed over years of use.
It comes with a 15-year warranty and in four sizes with three different bases. The queen size sells for $14,999, super king $17,499 and Californian $18,499.
Beautyrest Black is only going into eight outlets - Harvey Norman in Manukau City, Wairau Park and Mt Wellington in Auckland, Mount Maunganui, Porirua and Lower Hutt; Bedpost in Newmarket, Auckland; and Cavit & Co in Auckland.
Rope, the designer, said each bed took 300 hours to make - it uses the finest componentry in the world and the most expensive alpaca fabric from South America and woven in Italy.
"The bed is a personal thing and it's hidden away - it's your little bit of luxury and some people want the very best."
