ABOUT US

HOW WE FELL IN LOVE WITH UK SAUNA CULTURE

We’re passionate about creating a community for sauna enthusiasts. From our bespoke sauna builds and sauna map to our blog and DIY resources, we strive to offer a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for those looking to incorporate the benefits of sauna into their daily lives. 

We believe that sauna is not just a relaxing pastime, but a way to promote health, wellness, and social connection.

MEET THE TEAM

Five people in swimwear inside wooden sauna smiling, bearded man in foreground

The Saunaverse was founded in January 2023 by Tom and Lia, who met whilst studying at Oxford University. Tom is an Engineer who specialised in designing and building bespoke Treehouses around the world, before co-founding and scaling a sustainable tech startup. Tom heads up the build side of the Saunaverse. Lia is a medical doctor specialising in Psychiatry, who has a keen interest in bridging the gap between mental and physical healthcare to encourage holistic wellness. Lia leads on communicating the many benefits of sauna and fostering a thriving community of sauna enthusiasts.

THE STORY SO FAR

Poster with red saunaverse logo placed on drying rack alongside other screen prints

Having moved to East London in early 2022, Tom and Lia soon fell in love with the Hackney Wick Community Sauna Baths. Tom already had a couple of sauna builds under his belt, having built a shed sauna in North London, and a horse box sauna for their sister festival, Treehouse Music Festival, which found its way to join the Hackney fleet in the late summer.

Leaving the world of tech in late 2022, and with a few months to spare before heading off on a year of travels, Tom set up a temporary workshop in the corner of The Old Baths across the garden from the Community Sauna. He worked through the freezing months to build Halko, a 12 seater horsebox sauna. Having learnt so much, Tom then decided to build Haapa, Halko’s near identical twin.

It was during the long days of building that the idea for The Saunaverse began to grow. What started as an idea for a Sauna Festival, quickly evolved into a wider community for all things UK sauna culture, where the community could find all of the resources that Tom wished he could have found months earlier.

Having set a date for the UK’s first ever Sauna festival at the end of February, armed only with a name, no brand, no social media and no website, the screenshot of Tom’s iPhone note was the only way to get the idea out there. With the creative support of @emilygeorge.jpg our beloved floating Astronaut was born, and The Saunaverse began to take shape.

Tom loves working to a deadline. Not content with spinning up a brand new festival in under a month, Tom decided that it was now and never, and that they would take on the challenge of building the UK’s largest mobile sauna in time for the festival. 19 days later, less than 9 hours before festival gates were scheduled to open, the last screw was driven home and The Saunaverse sauna was officially open for sweat.

The festival was a huge success, with several hundred guests joining throughout the 2 day event to sweat it out in the 10 wood fired mobile saunas, before grabbing a cocktail and dancing to the bands and DJs on the main stage. 

Tom and Lia have taken a career break and plan to spend 2023 travelling the world exploring different bathing cultures. They’re armed with their laptops  and will continue to build The Saunaverse wherever they are, documenting their Sauna adventures as they go.

Two women wrapped in towels in front of green van with sign disco balls and towels
sweat droplet
Hand written sign saying community sauna baths in front of red doors and plant
Man with dreadlocks plays drum with hands singing into microphone surrounded by bubbles
Sauna bucket

OUR HOME IN HACKNEY WICK

Concrete building with public baths sign and two red doors with steps

The centre of The Saunaverse will always be the Hackney Wick Community Sauna Baths, in East London, UK. The Community Sauna Baths, as it’s affectionately known by its loyal bathers, is hidden away in the garden of a Victorian Bathhouse in the heart of Hackney Wick. The community sauna was founded in late 2021 with the aim of offering accessible, affordable, authentic sauna to the local community. Starting off with a single sauna, the site is now a full blown operation, with 6 wood fired mobile saunas open 6 days a week, allowing hundreds of bathers to get their sweat on a stone’s throw from Victoria Park. 

The Saunaverse works in partnership with the Community Sauna Baths to provide high quality, safe and sustainable commercial mobile saunas, as well as training and maintenance.

FAQs

Your knowledge hub for everything Saunaverse is split into 4 sections:

GENERAL INFORMATION

  • The Saunaverse is a UK based startup that specialises in providing expert sauna information, curating live sauna events, and building bespoke saunas for sale and rental.

  • The Saunaverse is for sauna lovers across the planet, but our home will always be at the Hackney Wick Community Sauna Baths in East London, UK.

  • Tom and Lia are co-founders of the Saunaverse. Learn more their story so far on the About page.

  • We’re working on the dates for our next sauna festival and hope it will be in Spring 2024.

  • A sauna festival is similar to a music festival, with the addition of lots of saunas and cold plunge pools. At the first Saunaverse sauna festival in the UK we had 10 mobile saunas, 8 cold plunge pools, as well as a main stage with 12 hours of live music, DJs and talks. Food and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink is available throughout the festival.

  • Yes, whilst we acknowledge that sauna and booze do not mix well, we believe it is important to embrace a sauna culture that encourages responsible drinking. It is commonplace to enjoy an alcoholic drink between sauna rounds in most Scandinavian companies and we feel the UK should be no different.

  • Our sauna map is a map listing all of the mobile saunas throughout the UK. We aim to include as much information on each sauna as possible, so that you can best enjoy the booming sauna culture. We indicate whether the sauna has been visited and verified by a member of The Saunaverse team.

  • Yes of course! Please just fill in the form on the Sauna Map page with as much detail as possible and we’ll update the map accordingly.

  • Yes, we’d love to help! We’d be happy to have an informal chat to point you in the right direction, and for any ongoing support Tom offers business development mentoring to help guide you through the intricacies of founding a successful sauna business. We can also rent you your first mobile sauna!

  • If we’re in the country, we’d love to! We are really passionate about the multiple benefits of sauna, and want to share as much of the information as we can!

  • Yes, we’d love to speak. Please get in touch with info@saunaverse.co.uk

  • Yes, our press pack can be downloaded here.

  • We’d love to! Get in touch to talk more about this. For a successful festival we suggest you will need at least 50 sauna seats available. We can always supply extra saunas if you need some extra space.

  • Whilst we’re open to the idea, this isn’t our bread and butter. We can put you in touch with our trusted friends who specialise in running festival saunas!

  • The amazing creative Emily George designed our sauna space-person! Get in touch with @emilygeorge.jpg for all your creative needs!

  • Of course, head to our ticket and merchandise store for all currently available products.

  • All of our t-shirts and other merch is printed in The Baths in Hackney Wick by Oscar Whale of Orange Juice Studios.

  • Sweat bathing is a multi-cultural practice of using hot air, steam or water to warm body. This is typically in the form of rounds of hot and then cold exposure. It’s used in many different cultures worldwide: a sauna in Finland, an onsen in Japan, a hammam in Turkey, a banya in Russia or a temazcal in Central and North American traditions are just some examples!

BUILD AND RENTAL

  • Tom, the Saunaverse’s Chief Sweat Officer, is also the head carpenter. He designs and builds all of the Saunaverse saunas with a small team of expert builders. Tom is an Oxford Engineer, and cut his teeth in carpentry designing and building high end bespoke Treehouses, before turning his attention to saunas.

  • How long is a piece of string! This is a difficult question to answer, but as a rough guide a high quality mobile sauna will be in the range of £20,000-£40,000, but it could be a lot more for something particularly special. If this price is prohibitive in one go see below for our rental opportunities.

  • We specialise in mobile saunas, but we’re always open to new exciting projects! If we can’t help, we can introduce you to our trusted network of sauna builders. We can also offer a bespoke, confidential support service to help you navigate the different builders and suppliers out there, to ensure you are getting a good deal, and not being taken for a ride!

  • Yes we do, this is our speciality! We realise that for many aspiring sauna entrepreneurs, finding £30-40K to commission a high quality commercial mobile sauna is out of the question. We believe that the UK needs as many authentic saunas as possible, so offer long term lease options for those looking to kick start their businesses.

    The minimum term for a long term sauna rental is 6 months. The longer the contracted rental term, the lower the monthly cost. Monthly rental depends on many factors, and is calculated based on the number of seats inside the sauna. £1,000/month is an approximate figure for a mid-sized commercial sauna on a 12 month rental agreement.

    We offer this for both bespoke new built saunas, as well as reconditioned second hand saunas. For those able to commit to a 24+ month contract we are able to incorporate your bespoke design choices into the build. Monthly rental pricing includes quarterly maintenance visits from Tom, annual stone replacements and on-demand maintenance to keep your business running in the rare event that something does go wrong. Insurance, public liability and all other overheads are the responsibility of the rental customer.

    We will have a selection of large commercial saunas available to rent from the summer of 2023. Please get in touch to discuss the various options.

  • Sorry but we don’t offer short term rental, as all of our saunas have long term homes. However, we will happily introduce you to our trusted friends in the sauna owner community who specialise in short term sauna rental.

  • Yes, we can offer one off and ongoing sauna maintenance for existing sauna operations. We have different packages available so please get in touch to discuss your needed.

LIVE EVENTS

  • -Photo ID

    -Two towels (one to sit on in the sauna (can be smaller) and one to dry off with.

    -Swimwear

    -Pools sliders/ flip flops

    -Water bottle

    -Plastic bag for taking home wet belongings

    -Bathrobe (optional)

    -Sauna hat (optional)

  • Unfortunately we can’t offer refunds or cancellations on tickets purchased. However you are welcome to transfer your ticket to a friend. A valid ticket QR code and photo ID be required for entry to the festival.

  • A free cloakroom will be in operation throughout the event to securely store your belongings.

  • Sorry, sauna and pets doesn’t mix well. This is a strictly human only event.

  • Whilst children often spend time in the sauna in Finland, and some are even born in the sauna, this is an 18+ event. Photo ID will be required for entry, and at the bar.

  • We’ll have a fully stocked bar offering both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Free tap water will be available throughout the event.

  • We’ve got an incredible lineup of local DJs, bands and performers. Check the festival insta for the full lineup announcements @thesaunaverse.

  • Individual Saturday or Sunday tickets are available, as well as full weekend tickets.

  • Yes! Please email info@saunaverse.co.uk to express your interest.

  • We’re looking for an eclectic range of DJs, bands and performers to entertain our guests. Our lineup is already pretty full but please email info@saunaverse.co.uk to see if you’re a good fit.

  • We know times are difficult and we don’t want price to be a barrier to anyone enjoying Sauna. We have a number of Low Income tickets available. Please email info@saunaverse.co.uk with a brief description of your circumstances to discuss eligibility. All enquiries will be dealt with in complete confidentiality.

  • Certain bathing cultures insist on nudity whilst inside the sauna, whilst others ensure bathers are covered at all times. All genders are welcome to ‘free the nip’ above the waist at all times and certain saunas and areas of the festival will be allocated as below the waist ‘clothing optional’ and ‘clothing essential.’

  • Chances are, your horrible experience was due to a poor excuse for a sauna, most likely squeezed into the back of a gym with a poorly powered electric stove and little-to-no ventilation. We assure you that our authentic wood fired saunas are a completely different experience and we’re confident you’ll be a convert for life! Even if we can’t change your mind, we’ll have a lot more than just sauna to keep you entertained. Enjoyed the wood fired hot tub, grab a beer next to the open fire, or boogie the night away.

CONTACT

  • You can get in touch with us through our Contact page, or by emailing any questions to info@saunaverse.co.uk

  • We’re still a very small team and there are currently no employment role available in The Saunaverse. However, we’re open to working with driven, like-minded sauna geeks, and if you think this is you contact us at info@saunaverse.co.uk

  • We’re open to sponsorship opportunities and collaborating with businesses that are aligned with our values. If you’re interested in sponsoring or investing in the Saunaverse please get in touch at info@saunaverse.co.uk

GALLERY

Wet man stands under bucket shower in swim shorts holding hard smiling at camera
Man wearing green dungarees and blue hat leans on wood smiling at camera
Man wearing hat dances outside with friends smiling at camera
Smiling couple wrapped in towels holding drink lie on red beanbags smiling
Group of people doing yoga in a sauna
Lady using a cold splash shower after sauna
A sauna at nighttime
Two smiling saunagoers
A musician/vocalist with a microphone in front of the Saunaverse sign
A man giving a lady a massage at the Saunaverse festival