In Finland, a home sauna is about as ordinary as a washing machine. In the US, it is fast becoming the wellness flex of choice, and a growing group of specialist designers is now building bespoke versions that go far beyond a wooden box in the basement.
Take Finnmark Saunas, a design studio whose client list includes Shangri-La hotels, London's The Beaumont and Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Designer Erin Hickman insists every project starts from scratch — the client, the architecture and the quirks of the space — not from a catalogue. That means saunas shaped around awkward corners and sloping ceilings, built with curved glass, natural stone and techniques like steam bending and CNC machining. One client brought in a single tile from Morocco; it became the design spark for a whole spa with curved architectural elements and an illuminated feature.
Then there's Iglucraft, an Estonian maker whose outdoor saunas look exactly as you'd guess from the name: sculptural, igloo-shaped structures that have shipped worldwide. The celebrity client list reportedly includes David and Victoria Beckham (who own two), Gordon Ramsay and Matthew McConaughey. Inside, there's real flexibility — washrooms, lounges, even a bar, plus your choice of windows, colours, flooring and heater. Marketing director Rasmus Tipp describes the appeal of a panoramic model simply: room to lie down on the benches and watch a snowstorm roll in. One customer wanted interior walls made entirely of pink salt stones; Iglucraft agreed, but had to reinforce the floor to take the weight.
There are limits. Iglucraft won't build traditional Estonian smoke saunas — wood-burning rooms with no chimney that need a heating process of nearly 12 hours — because the fire risk without expert handling is too high. And for anyone commissioning their own, the experts are blunt about priorities: spend on the fundamentals first. Good timber, generous benches, proper ventilation and a correctly sized heater and stone capacity matter more to the experience than gadgets. Smart tech does have a place — some electric heaters now fire up from a phone app before you get home — but the best systems, Hickman argues, should disappear into the experience rather than dominate it.
Why should a traveller care? Because the sauna culture you've sweated in on a trip to Finland or Estonia — or in the new wave of luxury bathhouses in New York — is increasingly something you can recreate at home. The companies shaping the bespoke sauna market are the same ones behind some of the world's best hotel and spa installations, so this is a peek at where wellness design is heading. And if a full custom build isn't in the budget, the principles travel: put the sauna where there's a view, invest in ventilation and seating, and keep the tech quiet.
