---
title: "Traditional Mattress Making Around the World"
url: https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/around-the-world/
description: "Traditional bedding reflects distinctive national and local practices. Take a journey through mattress-making traditions around the world."
lang: en-US
updated: 2026-09-23
translations:
  fr: https://le-briand.fr/musee/autour-monde/
source: https://le-briand.fr/en/museum/around-the-world.md
---
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# Traditional mattress making around the world

Published: March 22, 2020

Updated: October 18, 2024

Author: Les Matelassiers Le Briand

Wool was used in small quantities in mattresses as far back as ancient Egypt and classical antiquity.

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-sommier-tapissier-monde-australie-vicotria.jpg)

A bedding shop in Victoria, Australia, in 1880 – also the year Le Briand was founded

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-tripoli-liban.jpg)

A mattress maker in Tripoli – Lebanon

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-toscane.jpg)

Working with wool in Tuscany

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-sommier-tapissier-peru-lima.jpg)

Maruja, a bedding maker in Lima – Peru

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-pakistan.jpg)

A Pakistani mattress maker at work

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-ouagadougou.jpg)

A mattress maker in Ouagadougou

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-new-zealand.jpg)

A mattress maker in Cheviot – New Zealand

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-naples.jpg)

A mattress maker on the streets of Naples in the late 1950s

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-italie.jpg)

A family of mattress makers in Canneto sull’Oglio – Italy – 1960

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-etats-unis.jpg)

Refurbishing a mattress as a household task on a farm near Jarreau – Louisiana, US – 1938

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-barcelone.jpg)

A couple of mattress makers in Barcelona – Spain

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-angola.jpg)

Women mattress makers in Angola

![wool mattress and box spring | Les Ateliers Le Briand](https://img.le-briand.fr/uploads/2020/03/matelassier-paris-histoire-musee-fabrication-matelas-laine-naturel-australie.jpg)

Tom Goward, a mattress maker at Bruce Pie – Chermside, Australia – sometime in the 1950s

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Topics covered in this guide

From Naples to Ouagadougou, these workshops share the gestures practiced in ours; to see them at close quarters, we invite you to :

[Contact us](https://le-briand.fr/en/contact/)

[Visit us](https://le-briand.fr/en/address/)

…and we will be delighted to tell you what our Paris workbench shares with those in Naples, Lima, and Ouagadougou.