Snuggle up in bed, possum

The Nelson company that tickled global imagination with its fur G-strings and nipple-warmers is now getting international orders for $3000 possum pelt bedspreads.

New Zealand Nature Company director Miranda Wood Van Dyke said the company had so far sold 16 of the rugs through its website to customers in the United States, Britain and Europe.

The rugs, which create bedroom luxury from an introduced bush-eating pest, have not yet been marketed in New Zealand.

Each queen-sized bedspread, containing 50 pelts, involves about 30 hours of work by skilled furriers, providing a seamless appearance on the furry side and "beautifully stitched" leather on the reverse.

"The key element in making a top-grade spread like that is the matching of the furs," Ms Wood Van Dyke said.

"If you look at that bedspread, you can't tell.

"It all looks like one great big fur. The furs have all been matched in their colouring."

The company, which markets a range of possum products, found itself on to a winner last year after its possum G-strings and nipple-warmers were featured in the international men's magazine Playboy.

"We got thousands of orders after that," Ms Wood Van Dyke said.

However, she added: "We're not a bedspread company.

"We're basically a nature company and we're interested in all kinds of environmental products."

Herald feature: Environment