We've appeared in media coverage around the world talking about Estonian sauna design and technology, as well as sauna history and culture. Journalists and content producers are welcome to email us at tere@estoniansaunas.com if you'd like our help.
Below is some of our recent media appearances.
Visit Estonia, says the Telegraph
We took the Daily Telegraph for a sauna, resulting in this great feature about why people should visit Estonia. We talked in the sauna about Estonia's identity as a nation. "Please don't call us ex-Soviet!", we joked, before having a deeper discussion about why, as more people discover Estonia, regional labels are less important and we can focus on celebrating everything that is so wonderfully Estonian about Estonia. One slight misquote - we said saunas were recorded in our earliest written records from the 13th century, not that the tradition started then. It was already old by then!
Forbes' inspiring saunas
Forbes has just put together a list of 13 incredible saunas to inspire you, which includes one with a HUUM stove we delivered. Number 3 on the list is at Glen Dye, a huge estate where you can stay in the Scottish Highlands. The sauna has HUUM Hive wood-fired stove, which we delivered to Heartwood Saunas in Wales who then delivered it to Scotland. The end result is beautiful.
Sharing the meaning of leil at TEDx
Adam gave a talk at TEDxTallinn about the cultural importance of sauna steam. It was reported by Estonian World here, which includes a video of the talk.
Connected on Netflix
We appear in episode 5 of Netflix's new science show, Connected, hosted by Latif Nasser. The series has been getting great reviews around the world. You can read more about it in ERR News here and check out some of the positive reactions online in Geenius (link in Estonian) here.
The Boston Globe
We took a reporter for the Boston Globe to the sauna during his travels around our country and he wrote a great article about Estonia as the land of saunas, forests, and startups. It even made the front cover of their magazine.
The naked truth about Estonia
The Estonian government's investment agency decided to launch a sauna-themed campaign in 2020 to tell potential investors the naked truth about doing business in Estonia. They asked if we could help and we gladly supported it by creating the content and hosting filming at our sauna. The campaign attracted a lot of investment leads and was awarded a top Estonian marketing award. Even more incredibly, the United Nations recognised the Estonian Investment Agency for its excellence in response to the pandemic and highlighted the naked truths campaign as a example of this great work. Estonia has continued to use the campaign.
You can read our naked truths about Estonia here.
Spread the leil
Anni went on the Estonian TV show Ringvaade to talk saunas - and also explained that we should try to make 'leil' the first Estonian word to enter English. Leil is the steam generated by pouring water onto hot rocks inside a sauna. You can watch her interview in Estonian here.
Saunering for Queen & Country
The British Army has deployed 800 new solders to Estonia so we welcomed some of the first to arrive with a traditional Estonian smoke sauna to teach them about our country. It was broadcast by the British Army and covered by ERR News here.
EasyJet in-flight magazine
We were visited at our smoke sauna by British journalist Lauren Bravo who wrote a wonderful feature about us for EasyJet's inflight magazine, which you can read here (on pages 38 to 42).
Reuters covers the rise of Estonian sauna design
We invited Reuters to Estonia to understand how our sauna industry has continued to grow through the pandemic The report was broadcast around the world and also published up by the New York Times.
The ZiL-131 SAUN
Our new sauna, the ZiL-131 SAUN is inside a recycled Soviet Army truck. It made its debut at the European Sauna Marathon at the start of 2020 and has been making headlines in Estonia and around the world. We compiled a lot of this coverage in this video we made about the sauna marathon. You can also check out this video to see how we opened it as a pop-up sauna in Tallinn's hottest new neighbourhood, Noblessner.
Be Well by Gestalten
Popular coffee table book publisher Gestalten has featured our home sauna, Rangi saun, in its new book about the most extraordinary spaces for wellness around the world. You can order it online here.
The SaunAudi
We love documenting weird and wonderful saunas we find, like in this short video about an old Audi in Estonia that's been converted into a sauna. That quickly went viral and was featured in media reports in Estonia and around the world, including BBC News which interviewed us here. We also helped Reuters with this follow-up video report.
"Sauna to an Estonian is like a pub to an Englishman"
Weekly women's magazine Naisteleht visited us at home for this nice little feature about us as a British-Estonian family sauna business. You can read it online (in Estonian) here.
In deutschen nachrichten
We've been featured in German news several times talking about sauna culture and entrepreneurship, including on the main evening news show Tagesthemen, as well as Bayern 2 radio (in this fascinating blog and podcast).
Sounds of the Baltic Sea
This was an unusual request, even by our standards! There were a series of concerts in Germany about the sounds of the Baltic Sea with each song themed around a sound common to our region. One song was based on the sound of birch whipping recorded in our sauna.
European Sauna Marathon
We've long supported Estonia's 'European Sauna Marathon' (which we now sponsor). You can read our past features about it for Estonia's public broadcaster ERR in 2017 and for Estonian World in 2019 - for which we were also featured on the BBC Travel Show and interviewed by Business Insider.
Our US launch
We've partnered with Cedar and Stone Nordic Sauna, a quality American sauna builder in Duluth, Minnesota, to distribute HUUM sauna stoves across America. ERR News covered the story here.
The 100 year old Seto smoke sauna in Canada
We were contacted by a reader of our Estonian Saunas blog who discovered his family's old Seto smoke sauna in Canada. We wrote up the story here and it quickly became news in Estonia too, including in Postimees and Elu24.
Global sauna stove sales surge during lockdowns
While overall exports from Estonia have dropped amidst the coronavirus crisis, we've had record sauna stove sales - mostly due to investments in home saunas. This was widely covered in the Estonian media, including here in English and here in Estonian.
EU voting campaign
Estonians can do almost anything online from anywhere so we often test this to the limit in the sauna. We've voted in the last few elections while having a sauna, which resulted in this viral video and media coverage around the world, including the main evening Japanese news. During the last EU Parliamentary elections, the EU made a video about us voting during a sauna (shown here) in order to demonstrate the diversity of voters across the continent.
Tallinn In Your Pocket
Local tourist magazine, Tallinn In Your Pocket, ran a special sauna feature about us in their print magazine. You can also read their interview with Adam Rang here.
Our story in Õhtuleht
Estonian newspaper, Õhtuleht, interviewed Adam for a feature about his life and work. The story is online here (although it's in Estonian and behind a paywall).
Life in Estonia magazine
We wrote for Life In Estonia magazine about why Estonian saunas are becoming more popular around the world through exports and tourism - and the help of a few new celebrity fans.
Launching in the UK
You can read more about our plans to help more Brits build saunas here in Estonia's top English language online magazine, Estonian World.
Showcasing Estonia
We've been featured in several videos made by the Estonian state, including Visit Estonia, our tourist agency, and the Work in Estonia programme - for whom we've twice hosted saunas at our home for their Career Hunt challenge.
Born in the sauna
The sauna is the traditional place of birth in Estonia so we decided to launch our company there too (just before opening our own smoke sauna). That generated headlines before we'd even built our business - like here in the Sun, the UK's largest newspaper.
Outside the sauna
When not enjoying saunas and helping other people around the world enjoy theirs, Anni is a leading green building expert while Adam helped the Estonian government develop e-Residency to create a trusted system for international entrepreneurs. As a result, we are passionate about environmentalism and business transparency. These are topics we both often talk and write about. Adam wrote for ERR, the public broadcasting, about combating criminality in business here and here, as well as the importance of encouraging more connections to Estonia. He's also in this TL:DR video about Estonia. Adam has since supported various parts of the Estonian state to communicate internationally, including the Office of the President.
