I really love the sauna community. I’ve met so many lovely people over the last few years photographing sauna events across London, and there’s always such a friendly, down-to-earth vibe.

So it was a joy to be invited by co-founders Wendy Liu and Mika Meskanen to photograph the launch of the very first London Sauna Week at WellNest in London Bridge.

The event kicked off with an introduction from Aleksi Malmbery from the Finnish Institute, followed by talks from Wendy and Mika, and Studio Emmi, who shared her creative thinking around the branding for LSW.

Then there was a panel talk hosted by Rachel McGrath (@thatsaunagirl) exploring the question “Could sauna be public health infrastructure?”. The panel brought together Polly Wilson from Community Sauna Baths, Dr Gillian Stoke (aka @saunamamas) and Sophie from Family Action.

After the talks, everyone jumped into the huge WellNest sauna for an epic evening of rituals, including Aufguss, whisking with birch branches, breathwork, salt scrubs and storytelling. I got to put my camera down towards the end of the evening and enjoy three rituals myself… leaving with silky-soft skin and feeling super revived and refreshed!

I was also back photographing another London Sauna Week event a couple of days later, this time capturing authors Mikkel Aaland, Malcolm Shifrin and Jane Withers in conversation. Blog and photos from this event coming soon…👀

You can find out more about London Sauna Week here.
Location: WellNest, London Bridge.