• Nancy Koltes at Home

  31 Spring St., 212-219-2271

  Considering that about a third of life is spent asleep, pillows are serious business. Made from the hypoallergenic Scandia Down, which is said to be 300 percent cleaner than government-standard down, Nancy Koltes’s pillows come in a comfy range of densities and sizes (and, therefore, prices, from $110 to $750 for the Contessa firm in king size). The tiny shop’s staff is skilled in guiding customers to the right headrest. In the rare event of a mismatch, however, you can make exchanges for up to a month.

From the 2006 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine