Finnish born and bred. Building here for 15 years.
I've lived in New Zealand a decade and a half, and I'm still strongly attached to my Nordic roots. This is what I brought with me.
Sauna is the only Finnish word to make it into everyday English — and it's almost always misunderstood.
People here hear "sauna" and think luxury. In Finland it's an everyday necessity, and how much it means to Finns is routinely underestimated. That gap is the reason this business exists.
More than 55 years ago — traditional au naturel bathing in my grandparents' sauna at their place in Lahti, near Lake Alanen.
That's me, forty five years ago.
For almost every Finn, the sauna is the most important feature of the home, and the one most closely tied to their wellbeing. It's where we socialise and do business, and traditionally where families prepared for births, deaths and marriages.
I grew up with it as a regular and indispensable part of life — not a treat, not a spa day. Just the room you use.
Which means a Finnish builder like me has a lot of experience designing and installing them before he ever calls it a job.
A culture we grew up in — not one we studied.
* At least 2 million saunas according to official registers. The Finnish Sauna Society believes the real number may be as high as 3.2 million — sauna.fi.
The ritual, as it’s actually done
Water thrown over hot stones, often with leaves or herbs, sends up waves of fragrant vapour and heat. Every sauna has its own character, its own distinctive löyly.
Gentle or brisk, with a traditional vasta or vihta — a tied bundle of fresh birch twigs, or a birch branch whisk. It aids circulation.
Water thrown over hot stones, often with leaves or herbs, sends up waves of fragrant vapour and heat. Every sauna has its own character, its own distinctive löyly.
Thousands of years, same idea.
They dug a hole, heated a pile of stones and covered it over with animal skins or a turf roof. A primitive sauna cabin — and the whole principle already in place.
They dug a hole, heated a pile of stones and covered it over with animal skins or a turf roof. A primitive sauna cabin — and the whole principle already in place.
They dug a hole, heated a pile of stones and covered it over with animal skins or a turf roof. A primitive sauna cabin — and the whole principle already in place.
They dug a hole, heated a pile of stones and covered it over with animal skins or a turf roof. A primitive sauna cabin — and the whole principle already in place.
Three words worth knowing.
The only Finnish word to make it into everyday English — and the one most often misunderstood. Here it suggests luxury. In Finland it's an everyday necessity, and the most important room in the house.
The wave of heat and fragrant vapour that rises when water is thrown over the hot stones, often with leaves or herbs in it. Every sauna has its own distinctive löyly.
A tied bundle of fresh birch twigs used for a gentle or brisk beating in the heat. It aids circulation. Two words for the same thing — which one you use depends on where in Finland you grew up.
A builder who grew up in them.
The Cilindro's whole idea is stone mass. Pack that much rock around the element and the heat that comes off it is soft and full rather than dry and biting — the kind of löyly that holds when you throw water.
Because it's a pillar rather than a box, you can build it into the bench where it all but disappears, or stand it in front of a glass wall and let it be the thing people look at. That flexibility is why it turns up in small family rooms and large public saunas alike.
The Black Steel version wraps it in glossy black stainless — a finish that suits a modern room and takes the heat without complaint.
Meet the team
Petri Knuuttila
Grew up in Lahti, Finland. Building saunas in New Zealand for 15 years.
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