MEDIA AND ARTICLES

Otago Daily Times (ODT) September 2006.

Novadown
Hungarian Goose down visit 6-8 October 2005 – Glenn Alexander, Novadown Managing Director and Owner, and his daughter Kathryn.

Novadown Ltd having been established in the 1980’s by a leading down and feather pioneer, Novadown was sold to one of New Zealand’s most innovative bedding companies, Ellis Fibre Ltd here in Dunedin, in 2002. Novadown has remained a separate company, been given more resources and repositioned itself as New Zealand’s leading brand of European inspired down quilts and pillows.

Made in Dunedin, to suit Australasia’s varied climate conditions, Novadown has built a reputation of excellence in design and high quality workmanship. Carefully selected down and fabrics from Europe and northern Asia are the basis of a quality product supplying lasting warmth and comfort. Our down is then internationally tested at world renowned International Down and Feather Institute, Salt Lake City, USA to ensure the highest standard of quality.

Our European Collection utilizes goose down from Hungary – hence our visit to the geese farm in Hungary to meet once again with our suppliers.

“We flew into Budapest to be met by our tour guide Andrew who was going to show Kathryn and myself some of the beauty and history of Budapest, the capital of Hungary before we headed south to the Goose farming areas of Hungary.

Today, Budapest is a city of 2 million people situated in the middle of Europe called the queen of the Danube. The city consists of two parts: Buda in the hills on one side of the Danube, and Pest on the plains on the other side of the river. The former Royal Palace built 800 years ago by King Matthias and its historic district tower above the town, is a popular area for visitors with it’s great views of the Danube, cafes, historic buildings, museums and theatres. In January 1945 it was almost completely destroyed but has been rebuilt.

Pest on the other side of the river was an industrial centre with a large ceramic industry as well as hand woven lace. Today Pest has the government, the financial district and a thriving retail sector. The House of Parliament building on the Pest side, is a magnificent building built in 1885-1902 in neo gothic, neo roman and Venetian style.

In the afternoon, our hosts Gabriella and Sandos who supply Novadown Ltd with their highly prized Hungarian Goose Down met us. The aim of our visit to Hungary, was to learn more about the Hungarian goose industry.

We drove for 2 1/2 hours south to the city of Szged, which is cited, on the Tisza River. Along the way we stopped at a traditional Hungarian restaurant where we tried foie gras (goose liver) and onions, which was rich and delicious. The trip high lighted how flat the country is and how development is flourishing with motorways being built across the country.

Szeged is a small city, which has a large university, which is the main industry similar to that of Dunedin, in New Zealand. The plains between the Tisza and the Danube in the East are where the Hungarian Geese are farmed.

We stayed at a hotel overlooking the Tisza River and the city.

The next day, Sandos picked up Kathryn and Myself and drove us to a goose farm on the Tizsa plains. The farm we visited had 5000 geese. The geese where kept in huge fields during the day and at night were returned to a large night shed. Close by, was a pond for them to swim in and clean themselves.

In Hungary there are 5 million breeding Geese. The geese are bred specifically for the down, meat and goose liver. The down is sold internationally due its large down cluster size. Meat primarily is sent to Germany and the goose liver to France and Western Europe.

The geese in Hungary are very large, weighing 7-8 kg. Each Male goose (Gunar) has three Females (Tojo) as partners for life. Tojo translated means egg layer. In May of each year the geese’s breast are hand plucked for the feather and down. They are plucked every 6 weeks (usually 4 times) until November. Each goose produces 150 grams of Down and 350 grams feather a year.

From December to January the geese are wintered over. Then, from February until May the Tojo lay typically 64 eggs. With an 80% success rate each Tojo produces approximately 50 offspring per year.

Hungary has been breeding geese for hundreds of years, mainly because many parts of the plains are unsuitable for cropping.

Farmers sell the Down to wholesalers whom collect and sort from hundreds of farms. Our supplier then purchases the down.

Based in the village of Karafalva, our supplier Sandos built a factory in 1990 after the independence of Hungary from Russia in 1989. Having worked in a state, run down factory he took his skills and applied it in the new economy. With considerable success his business has grown significantly with the assistance from the European government.

The down once received from the farmers, is hand sorted and then put through a rigorous washing process at a high temperature to clean and sterilize the down and feather. It is then transferred to storage, prior to separation in the sorting and separating machines. These machines have a number of chambers and the down is sorted via airflow with the large feather staying in the first chambers and the light down flowing through to the end. Once this is completed the down is placed in storage with each 10 kg bag labeled with a unique computer controlled label which has details of the processing and down origins.

To make the correct blend specifications for their customers, our supplier still employs a traditional blending method. A blending room is filled with bags of down to the correct proportions and then is hand mixed with 3 men working as a team with wooden forks. To this day, this still gives the best blend of down. This is an impressive process to watch. The men place stockings over their heads to prevent them breathing in the down and look like ‘bank robbers’.

The down produced is extremely white with large down clusters. This means the down has extremely high filling power making large, strong clusters of down with excellent insulation. These large down clusters have longer fibers allowing them to hold their shape and trap air, again giving excellent insulation.

Hunagarian goose down typically has 25 to 30 % more insulation than other down. This makes it the ‘premium down’ internationally. It is Novadown’s intention to continue to offer this exclusive down.

Sandos told us that the demand for Hungarian down is strong with Japan, Germany and Scandinavian countries as it’s main markets. He can now add New Zealand’s Novadown Ltd to his impressive customer base.

That evening we enjoyed traditional Hungarian Goulash with the accompaniment of a local gypsy quartet by the Tisza River.”
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Sweeter Bundles of Joy
Bébé nu' means naked baby, reminiscent of that gorgeous, clean
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Designing an identity for the range was also a collaborative effort.
One of the mums, designer Cali Petrie designed the labels with
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items like the hand soap and drawer liner boxes.
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