From Generic to Iconic: The Story Behind Redesigning Freedom’s Mattress Range

26 May

Written By Kate Hopwood

Kate shares how Australian design principles, brand-aligned thinking and great teamwork at every stage transformed an underperforming product line. Read on…

EXCEPTIONAL DESIGN

PRODUCT DESIGN | CLIENT SUCCESS STORY | DESIGN PROCESS

CONTENTS

01. Step 1: Discover

02. Step 2: Design

03. Step 3: Deliver

LET’S DIVE IN …

“Kate, we need you to redesign Freedom’s mattresses. The range looks generic, dated, and the sales reflect that lack of aspiration.

Oh, and avoid blue—customers associate it with water... not ideal for a mattress!”

And so, the journey began.

01: Discover

As always, the design process kicked off with discovery.

My amazing buyer, Lloyd Crask, and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

We visited Freedom’s existing sleep studios, toured the competition, and scoured local and international markets online for best-in-class benchmarks.

We visited the Knoxfield factory to understand how the mattresses are made, what materials we could use, and which design levers we could pull to hit key price points.

02: Design

We began shaping the vision for what a mattress, at the heart of Freedom’s new brand direction, could look like.

Our mood board took form, featuring trusted Australian icons like Warwick fabrics, RM Williams boots, and breathtaking Australian landscapes. Every image and texture reflected the colours, forms, and spirit of the land these mattresses would rest upon.

Soon, a new five-mattress range would take shape.

03. Deliver

Working closely with the factory, we tailored each mattress to a distinct price point, ensuring strong visual and functional differentiation to support store teams during customer conversations.

The design details were inspired by Australian landmarks—from the angular beauty of Fed Square, to the lush curves of the Daintree Forest, to the sweeping crop lines of the Barossa Valley.

Nothing was overlooked: quilting patterns with side spacing to premium-ise the look, fabric selection, embroidery colour, handle types (or none at all), air vents, and even the names, each mattress named after a type of cloud (so yes, you really are sleeping on a cloud), with the top-tier model named Celestial—meaning ‘heaven’.

This was one of the most rewarding cross-functional collaborations I’ve been part of—between buying, design, factory, marketing, and sales. The baton passed seamlessly from team to team: from mood boards to sleep studio displays to ad agency concepts.

The power of design never fails to move me. It excites and captivates, but most importantly—it connects. When everyone is aligned and moving with purpose, grounded by a strong foundation, that’s when true magic happens.