One man's search for a good night's sleep turns into a thriving business that challenges the best in Europe

Kenneth Tjon is a driven man, urged on by the quest for a good night’s sleep. As founder of Dormirest, “The Natureof Beds” is his business motto. Tjon relishes his life’s quest for restful nights. He said, “I worked in the food  and beverage industry for over 10 years, which meant long hours and very hard work. I found that if I did not get a good night sleep, I was grumpy,  less competent and prone to make mistakes.So, realising the importance of sleep, I started to search for a good bed.”

He grew up and was educated in Holland where sleep specialists sell many different kinds of beds. He went to a sleep specialist and explained that he needed a good night’s sleep and tried various models. He bought a bed, but it was not satisfactory so he continued to look around, buying several beds over the years without finding one that provided him with the rest he needed, until he found the Scandinavian brand Hästens. It is a hand-made bed of all natural fibres, no latex or foam, and takes around three months to deliver to the customer.

The sleep specialist then suggested that a Hästens bed was his answer. Tjon thought it looked ugly but he tried it and noted that it felt. When he bought it, he was surprised that all Hästens beds are made to order, after taking into consideration the customer’s height, weight, sleeping posture and other preferences, so the bed is truly personalised for each client. The bed is made from horse hair, wool and cotton, all natural fibres, and uses pocketed springs. At that  time, $15,000 euro seemed like a good investment for a poor sleeper. After that, he got a good night’s sleep every night.

Tjon was tired of his F&B businesses and became fascinated with beds and he started to learn more about the process of making good ones. He noted that Hästens sold only in Northern Europe, so he decided  to try to take the beds to Asia.

Tjon said he did his research deeply because he was not raised in Asia, so he had to do more digging to find out what was available in Asia and the habits and desires of the Asian market. After thorough research, he decided that Hong Kong was the place to start a Hästens showroom.

He and his then partner took their business plan to Hästens who were impressed by the quality of the research and the pictures of beds in hotels and other facilities. Soon they struck a deal to become Hästens sellers in Hong Kong.

The first Hästens outlet was a small shop in Happy Valley that opened in 2006 and was an immediate hit. The partners received the “Rookie of the Year” award from the company in 2007, the first year of business. Their fellow dealers could not believe that they could sell so many expensive beds so fast, and sell them out of such a tiny space.

Tjon said, “The reasons I eventually left Hästens was because of a lack of communication and some stubbornness on the part of the manufacturer. There was a lack of quality control and if a bed had to be remade for some reason, it took another three months for the customer to get served properly. I did not  want to lose my reputation by negative publicity, so I changed brands and started to sell beds from Holland under the Lavital label, which was nearly the same quality as Hästens but a bit cheaper and I thought it was better value. I opened the Lavital showroom in 2008”.

He said, “I always sent customers to the Hästens shop to test the beds and make the comparison with Lavital’s product. That’s how confident I was that I could sell Lavital”. His partner did not come with him, so he became the sole proprietor of the shop.

Born a natural entrepreneur, Tjon began to wonder what made the European beds so expensive. Doing more research and study, he learned about the costs of the raw materials and springs and reached the decision that European beds were overpriced because of labour costs. It seemed natural to turn to  China for the labour, and he set out to manufacture his own brand of all-natural, hand-made beds for the Asian market.

Dormirest was born. “Dormirest is the bed of the people” said Tjon with a smile. He sources all the materials from the same suppliers as Hästens and Lavital with one inventive addition, camel wool. He decided the humidity of Southern China was too high for regular wool so he tops it with camel wool, a substance that helps camels acclimatise to extremes of temperature and is helpful in regulating perspiration.  Once the switch from retail to manufacturing was made, and the first samples created, Tjon said, “This was a product I could sell with all my heart”.

Not only does he create beds equal in quality to Hästens and Lavital at one-fifth to one-third of the price, his unceasing search for better beds has led him to make innovations in the design of the springs, putting two more layers inside the mattress itself, to distribute the stress of the weight of the body better. He doubled and then tripled the amount of horse hair  used in the topper and added the camel wool. King and queen sized beds comprise two separate mattresses so that couples don’t disturb each other when turning over.

“My job”, said Tjon, “is to get you in bed”.

FAST FACTS
• 2007 - Awarded ‘Hästens Rookie of the Year 2007’ for the best selling new showroom

• 2007 - Awarded ‘Hästens Vividus award’ for premium Vividus sales

• 2007 - Opening of first AUPING showroom in Happy Valley

• 2008 - Opening of first LAVITAL showroom in Ap Lei Chau

• 2010 - Launch of DORMIREST in Hong Kong

• 2011 – Dormirest dealers in Israel, Iceland and the Netherlands

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Tags: Kenneth Tjon, Hong Kong Business High-Flyers awardees, Dormirest