Corporate members among bed industry winners

Two of our corporate members were among the winners of The National Bed Federation (NBF) 2020 Bed Industry Awards.

Furniture Village and Harrison Spinks, both corporate members of ours, were recognised in the annual awards, scooping the Large Bed Retailer of the Year and Bed of the Year awards, respectively.

The winners were named during a 30-minute livestreamed ceremony on YouTube, hosted by the NBF’s Jessica Alexander and Simon Williams.

The 2020 awards included two new categories – one for sustainability and the other to recognise the exceptional challenges of the year with a Covid-19 Community Champion award.

The winners are:

• Bed of the Year – Velocity 8750 mattress from Harrison Spinks
• Component Product of the Year – Enkev’s GOTS certified range of fillings
• Small Bed Retailer of the Year – Prestige Beds
• Online Bed Retailer of the Year – Mattressonline.co.uk
• Large Bed Retailer of the Year – Furniture Village
• Sustainability Awards – Bekaert Deslee (Highly Commended, Jaybe)
• Covid-19 Community Champion Award – The Vita Group.

Normally announced as part of the gala dinner event during the NBF Bed Show in Telford, this year’s virtual awards ceremony represents the association’s determination to retain the prestigious annual awards, now in their tenth year, despite the COVID pandemic.

“The annual awards have become an important highlight in the bed industry year and while we have been unable to hold the Bed Show itself because of the coronavirus crisis, we felt it was vital to go ahead with the awards,” said David Moffitt, president of the NBF.

Master David Woodward was chosen as one of the judges to sit on the Community Champion award category.

He said: “We found this a very difficult decision to make as all three finalists were very close on our scoring matrixes. However, we felt the Vita Group entry just edged it with the diversity of their activities, included several innovative products. Going forward, the impact on their business is likely to be significant and these initiatives will continue to be of benefit to both the local and wider communities.”

Nick Booth, managing director at Harrison Spinks, said: “Bringing home the Bed of the Year accolade is an enormous achievement for the team. It’s fantastic recognition for the direction we’re taking as a business around luxury sustainable comfort. All of our new mattresses are 100% foam-free, glue-free and free from any additional FR chemical treatments and can be fully recycled at end of life.”