[Originally published in Voyage LA on June 5, 2017]
Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise and Claus Pummer.
Claus Pummer is a native of Germany and a Master Cabinetmaker by training there. He immigrated to Canada in 1998 where he established Natural by Design, his custom woodworking and European home furniture and furnishings import business. Over the years, he became a holistic sleep coach and, today, his main focus is SAMINA’s line of healthy sleep products. SAMINA is an all organic, natural and orthopedic healthy sleep system with accompanying accessories including pillows, duvets and grounding pads that help mitigate the effects of electro-magnetic radiation while sleeping. The bed is built in layers, each designed to support a different need of the body while sleeping because no single layer will accommodate all of the body’s needs from individual spinal support to climate control for heat and sweating. SAMINA does all of this and more by harnessing the power of nature. There isn’t a more complete healthy sleeping solution on the market.
In 2013, Claus married Denise and they relocated the North American operations of SAMINA from locations in Ontario, Canada and the Dallas (Texas) Design District to Pasadena in 2016. With more and more holistic health practitioners such as integrative and functional medical doctors, osteopathic physicians, and others who understand and value the importance of sleep to our overall health sleeping in SAMINA, the brand is growing in popularity. Additionally, Claus has impressed many audiences with his knowledge about holistic healthy sleep through public speaking and podcasts. After all, it is only while sleeping that so many tremendous benefits are realized including muscle growth, immune system restoration, brain detoxification and more.
Has it been a smooth road?
Claus was in Canada for many years with steady year over year business growth until the recession of 2008. With the long winters in Canada, retailers are definitely affected and he depended on US imports during those long winters. Yet in 2008, virtually all US sales ceased forcing him to become creative and eventually opening a second location in Dallas, TX. Expanding physically to the US helped him capture this market better. Furthermore, while he had been distributing SAMINA healthy sleep products for many years, he had not focused on healthy sleep. Since many of his clients were interior designers, he also had a tough time with this group and SAMINA while the function of the bed is much more critically important to your sleep than the fashion of the bed which is what designers generally were more concerned about. Implementing marketing efforts that focused on educating physicians how toxic conventional mattresses are especially to patients already stricken with disease and with compromised immune systems helped fuel referrals and these were mainly on the West coast. In 2015, with fewer days at home than on the road, the Pummers decided to move West where the majority of the demand originated. With affiliate partners growing nationwide in key markets (San Francisco, Seattle, Boston/New York) and celebrities like Dave Asprey, founder of Bulletproof Coffee and renown practitioners like Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt known for the development of his own protocols for treatment of Lyme disease, SAMINA is becoming more popular.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with SAMINA Healthy Sleep Store – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
SAMINA is not an ordinary bed.
Designed with sleep science and natural medicine principles, the healthy sleep concept coined by the owner and founder of SAMINA, Dr. Guenther Amann-Jennson of Austria is trademarked Bioenergetic Sleep. SAMINA provided this through a layered system of all natural and organic materials. Notably, what is not in SAMINA is just as important as what it is made of; there is no metal in SAMINA, no toxic chemicals, nothing to off-gas, no petrochemicals or formaldehydes, no synthetic foam.
Uniquely, SAMINA has unrivaled back support provided through a freely suspended, double-slatted wood frame. You have to experience it to believe it! Most beds stress your spine into unnatural positions but SAMINA helps retain when sleeping the natural double-S shape we generally have while standing. This helps unpinch nerves and provides the sleeper with a healthy “stretch” known as spinal decompression. Why is this important? Back discomfort is a major cause of tossing and turning at night. When you move a lot, you are robbing yourself of deep rest. Furthermore, back pain sufferers regularly report that the worst pain of the day is first thing in the morning when they get out of bed. That is no way to begin the day!
SAMINA is not inexpensive. However, the business model is reversed. While conventional mattresses typically have very high margins and low cost of materials, SAMINA spares no expense on certified organic materials, hand washed and processed wool from the happiest sheep on earth and each item is carefully hand-made in the sweet fresh, clean air of the Austrian mountains. SAMINA in Pasadena is the exclusive North American importer of all SAMINA products.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
We love the diversity of the Los Angeles area coupled with its natural beauty. Our store in Pasadena is nestled between Old Town and physically within the Pasadena Playhouse District. We enjoy the walkability of Pasadena, the many restaurants and retail options at our doorstep and the many cultural events supported by the community here. Pasadena is just lovely and the number one response we receive when we tell people where our store is located is “Oh! I love Pasadena!” This is a destination city as well as home to many distinguished citizens. It’s always better to live in an area that is economically healthy and growing versus the opposite. Just on our block, for example, the Paseo Colorado is expanding with the addition of a new hotel and additional retail space, and Kaiser Permanente is breaking ground on its first medical school.
For us, SAMINA is not an inexpensive brand. Therefore, we needed a location in the greater LA metro area that served a more affluent client in an affordable, accessible area. Pasadena met these requirements. Additionally, with the expanded influence of social media influencers our clientele is changing. More and more of our clients are younger people investing in their health and prevention rather than people already in disease with pain and suffering. Our clients come from a wide expanse around the greater LA area ranging from San Diego to Malibu, too.
Pricing:
- SAMINA healthy sleep systems begin at $5,000 for twin bed
- $10,500 is a typical investment for a queen bed
Contact Info:
- Address: 24 South Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena CA 91101
OPEN BY APPOINTMENT - Website: SaminaSleep.com
- Email: info@saminasleep.com
- Phone: (626) 768-0311
- Email: info@saminasleep.com
- Instagram: @Samina_Sleep
- Facebook: @SaminaSleep
- Twitter: @SAMINA_Sleep
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/samina-pasadena