Meet Jasper – Founder of Helsinki’s Award-Winning Eco Sauna Löyly
“From a Finnish perspective, we know a thing or two about saunas. Sauna comes from Finland – even the word is Finnish, the only word in our language to travel.
We wanted to revive the public sauna culture. A long time ago, Helsinki used to have over 100 public saunas — they were peoples’ communal bathing and meeting spots. We wanted people to experience a real Finnish Sauna — wood heated with direct access to the sea year round.”
-Jasper
Founder Löyly
Created
| 5 min read
Passion project within Helsinki’s unique sauna culture
Löyly, Helsinki’s celebrated seaside sauna and one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks, has drawn international acclaim since it opened in 2016. Located in the city’s Hernesaari district, a former industrial area on the peaceful south western shores of Helsinki, the site is less than 2 kilometres from the city centre and yet transports you to the rugged landscape of the Finnish archipelago. The strikingly beautiful public sauna has been a passion project for founder Jasper Pääkkönen whose goal has been to share Finland’s unique sauna culture with the world.
Jasper is Finland’s most internationally-recognised actor, best known for his roles in American director Spike Lee’s films and in the hit tv series Vikings. In person he is open and down to earth and can often be found hanging out at Löyly with his young family dressed in a hoodie and jeans. He is humble yet fiercely proud of Löyly’s surprising success story. His heart and soul and Finnish Sisu (determination) have driven the project since its inception.
A crazy proposal
“We had no experience but a naive ambition of building a sauna version of the Sydney Opera House. We thought we have to build a place that is architecturally so stunning it’s a place you cannot miss.“
When Jasper and his business partner, Member of Parliament Antero Vartia, stumbled upon an old plan for the City of Helsinki and saw that Hernesaari had once been allocated for a public sauna, they saw an opportunity for this piece of land in transition and jumped on it.
They met with Avanto Architects, who had an ambitious design that would include both a traditional wood burning sauna, a smoke sauna, a restaurant and an expansive view of the sea.
“They probably thought we were crazy when we went for their big proposal.”
The design was so unusual that it was clearly going to be a major challenge from a budget perspective. Most people were skeptical and thought their vision would not fly but a banker at Nordea, the largest bank in the Nordic region, took a chance.
“He told us this plan of yours is insane but I believe in it enough to give you a bank loan.“
A few weeks before Löyly was due to open, Jasper heard from the New York Times who said they had caught wind of the project and wanted to be the first to write about it. Jasper had to make sure the email wasn’t a hoax. And when in 2018 Time Magazine included Löyly in its list of the World’s 100 Greatest Places, he knew they had arrived.
“I guess after that nobody was debating the sanity of this project.”
For all its glamour, Löyly is a pioneer in sustainable architecture and design and is the first building in Finland and the second in the Nordics to be certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). The sculptural wooden structure has already faded over time, and has found its place in the surrounding nature.
Eco Stamp of Approval
“We wanted as entrepreneurs to challenge others to make responsible choices.
Jasper describes himself as a passionate fly fisherman with a deep love for the fisheries and their habitats. A committed environmentalist — he is an ambassador for the outdoor apparel brand Patagonia, known for its environmental stewardship — he admits to using Löyly to spread his message. Jasper’s famous salmon soup, the most popular item on the menu at Löyly’s restaurant, is made with sustainably farmed rainbow trout. Fifty cents from each bowl is donated to WWF (Word Wildlife Foundation) for its work to revive endangered fisheries and rivers. So far they have exceeded 150,000 bowls of soup.
Helsinki’s sauna ambassador
“I embarked on a mission to create the highest quality sauna experiences made in Finland to the world.”
Jasper’s new venture, Aitosauna.com, was born out of a frustration with the wellness industry and celebrity takeover of sauna culture. He attributes the trend to the remarkable results of a thorough University of Eastern Finland study that found a significant reduction in cardiovascular and cognitive disease with regular sauna use.
The curative power of heat has long been embraced by Finns. The problem, according to Jasper, is that many of the saunas promoted by celebrity culture are poorly made. Wanting both to protect and promote FInland’s reputation as sauna specialists, the same team that created Löyly, have designed the perfect, pre-made eco friendly home saunas for the international market.
“I mean, everyone seems to be raving about saunas and its clear health benefits. But we don’t quite recognise what we already have and have had for hundreds of years in Finland. A really exceptional sauna. Very different from others. A sacred place, really.”
With an eye to the future this Viking won’t stop there. Jasper would love to see versions of the Löyly public sauna spread all over the world. Stay tuned!
