I’ve slept on dozens of various mattresses over the previous two years whereas testing beds for our information to the perfect mattresses you should buy on-line, however nothing fairly just like the Airwave Superior. I first heard about this distinctive, plastic-filled mattress right here on WIRED.com—the web’s go-to supply for all mattress-related content material—the place considered one of our libero professionista Italianos wrote in regards to the beds utilized by Olympic athletes in Paris. I’ll not, as Junior Soprano would say, have the makings of a varsity athlete, not to mention an Olympian, however I am all the time fascinated about a singular, high-tech sleeping floor.
The Airweave mattress was broadly described as being made from cardboard, however that is extra correct than true. Fairly, the bottom that lifted the Olympic dorm mattresses to mattress top was cardboard; the precise mattress filling consists of a singular ultrafine woven polyethylene. The innards of the Airweave look just about precisely like an raw glass noodle and provide a quite stiff sleeping floor. I’m a aspect sleeper who appreciates some give but in addition desires help, and the Airweave was slightly on the agency aspect for me however was snug for per week of testing in my house. If I have been on the lookout for a agency mattress that could possibly be simply moved, this might be on the high of my record.
{Photograph}: Martin Cizmar
Noodle Supply
As somebody who has numerous mattresses delivered to my door for testing, I strongly favor bed-in-a-box choices that come roll-packed on a FedEx truck. The Airweave is just not that—it comes through a transport firm. I really refused the primary supply try as a result of the mover wished to go away an enormous field, the dimensions of a Fiat, on my garden regardless that I had organized for white glove supply. (I might not anticipate this challenge when you reside in a bigger metropolis with extra professionalized supply companies as an alternative of contractors selecting up odd jobs in U-Hauls, because it goes right here in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri.)
I might not have been fairly so frightened if I might peeked contained in the field, although, because the Airweave’s elements are giant and noncompressible but in addition mild and thoughtfully divided into manageable components. The corporate says its mattresses are “90 p.c air” due to the high-quality fibers, which vaguely resemble fats fishing traces. For my king-sized tester, there have been three slabs of filler to be mixed inside the duvet, every weighing lower than 40 kilos. These huge plastic rectangles are lined with a delicate layer of cloth and zipped into an outer shell made from polyester. After my week of testing, I used to be simply capable of transfer this mattress to its subsequent house in my SUV, so I might say it is about as transportable as mattresses come.
Go With the Circulation
Airweave was based by Stanford-educated Japanese engineer and serial entrepreneur Motokuni Takaoka in 2004. An avid bicycle owner, he determined to market the mattresses by giving them for use within the Olympic villages and by World Cup soccer groups to create buzz. The approach works, because the mattresses seize reporters’ consideration and make for press launch fodder.
{Photograph}: Martin Cizmar
