SaunaNews
The Sauna Industry's Record of Note
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Leisurecraft launches the CT Element, a glass-fronted indoor sauna kit in three sizes built from Thermo Grandis. Priced between Almost Heaven and Auroom, it fills a gap in the home sauna market, but the wood choice and Canadian shipping logistics deserve a closer look.
Portal° Thermaculture started behind a Boulder brewery, burned down, reopened in Denver six weeks later, and built its first real brick-and-mortar in a former Minneapolis Jiffy Lube cooled by a chiller designed for penguin tanks. Five metros, no disclosed investors, and a founder who says people need “a dive bar that doesn’t serve alcohol.”
The Thermory Design Awards are accepting submissions for 2026, with winners featured in Dezeen. The sauna and wellness category has produced a different winner every year since 2022, from a mobile sauna on wheels to the Baltimore Ravens's performance center. If you build with Thermory wood, your project is eligible.
Through an Atlanta Hardwood Corporation joint venture, Lunawood now runs all North American sales through Lunawood LLC, holds inventory at Cleveland and Clarksville, and thermally modifies US hardwoods on US soil. The North America Collection is a real architectural platform, not a placeholder. The strategic question for 2026 isn't whether Lunawood is 'entering' North America. It's whether localization is enough to compete with Thermory's established dealer and distribution network.
Thermory USA has appointed Cristian de Rosa as CEO, promoting from within a sales leader who built the company's Northeast and Great Lakes territory. Co-founder Mark Challinor returns to CFO while retaining a board seat. For the sauna industry, it is another sign that the smart money is flowing toward North America.
Estonia's 34+ sauna manufacturers, led by Thermory, HUUM, and Saunum Group, have turned a tiny Baltic nation into one of the world's most important sauna production hubs. Here's why it matters for American buyers.
With China tariffs at 145% and a 15% surcharge on European imports, we mapped which sauna brands carry the most tariff exposure. Sauna360, whose Finnleo-branded prefab kits are primarily manufactured in China, faces the steepest cost pressure of any major brand.
The Baltimore Ravens' Under Armour Performance Center now includes a custom sauna built with Thermory thermo-magnolia wood, designed by ZGF Architects. The project won Best Sauna & Spa at the Thermory Design Awards 2025, and it signals growing adoption of dedicated sauna facilities in professional sports.
Thermory has named Bergman Co., Ltd. of Tokyo as its exclusive distributor for sauna interior materials and exterior architectural wood products in Japan. The deal, signed in Tallinn in November 2025, positions Thermory in one of the world's most culturally significant bathing markets.
Estonian holding company UG Investeeringud acquired a majority stake in Thermory from private equity firm Livonia Partners in a deal that closed in July 2020. The ownership change positions the world's largest thermally modified wood producer for its next growth phase.