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The real "manufacturer", or rather supplier of the silky-soft raw materials, is the eider duck.
This sea duck is native to the mountainous coastal regions of Greenland, Canada and Iceland.
The female has fine down feathers on her breast that keep her and her nest warm.
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Dauny
The 550 employees at a company called Billerbeck, founded in 1921, are responsible for bringing pleasure to bedheads all
around the world. Dauny is one of seven brands owned by Billerbeck Schweiz AG, and to be precise, it is the
brand when it comes to satisfying that craving for snuggling up under deluxe eiderdown. The silky soft down feathers from
Iceland are like little snowflakes; their exceedingly fine feathers create a far larger volume than normal feathers,
allowing the down to store more warmth. High-quality plumeaux and duvets are hand-made in the Dauny Studio,
filled with eiderdown according to the customer's specifications. The customer can select both filling and colour,
meaning that each cover is truly unique.
Additionally, the Billerbeck Foundation "Sleep and Health", set up 40 years ago by Gerd Billerbeck,
researches individual sleeping habits and uses the data collected to design new covers.
The research work is based on the teachings of Professor Hufeland and Pastor Sebastian Kneipp.
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Eider ducks first nest when they are 3-5 years old. The female will then pluck approx. 18-20 grams of down from her breast
to feather the inside of her nest. Once the ducklings have hatched the eiderdown farmers gather the nests.
It won't come as a surprise to hear that eiderdown is valuable, most costly than gold even:
it takes 60 nests to yield 1,000 grams of down (= approx. 1 million feathers weighing 0.001 g each).
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Cleansing these incredibly delicate feathers from bits of wood, small stones and grass seeds takes eight hours of work by hand.
Even the minutest quantities of down have an unrivalled ability to insulate, which is why eiderdown is so sought after.
In the Dauny Studio the eiderdown is made into duvets with the very finest batiste, delicately patterned Jacquard,
luxurious Shantung silk or Egyptian cotton, patterned and coloured according to customer wishes.
Each of these hand-made Dauny eiderdowns comes with its own quality certificate. Billerbeck makes only a few hundred
of these deluxe duvets a year, with the majority going to the United Kingdom and Asia.
Text: Corinna Keller
Photos:
Fa. Billerbeck,
Fa. Sleepwell
In this context
VIRTUOSO CRAFTMANSHIP:
Wood/Metal here.
Glass here.
Fabrics/Leather here.
Painting/Photography here.
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