Thermory’s subsidiary Auroom produces saunas that exude simple Nordic minimalism and elegance. The rapidly growing demand for Auroom saunas shows that beautiful appearance, comfort, and practicality is winning people’s hearts. The sales team also plays an important role in the growing success – each of whom, just like Auroom saunas, is unique in their own way. 

Thermory’s brand for ready-made aroma saunas Auroom became an independent company on April 1st and will continue production under Auroom OÜ. According to Andres Kangur, Managing Director of Sales and Marketing of Auroom, the main motivation for this change is to give an even clearer focus to the development of Auroom’s ready-made saunas and to significantly increase both production capacity and sales growth. “This is how our brand Auroom stands out even better, and in cooperation with our current and future partners, we are able to offer an even more excellent wellness experience,” says Andres. “We are already able to produce almost twice as much as a year ago, but customer demand has grown even faster.”
According to Andres, sauna sales is an emotional business – people do not necessarily need a sauna, but it is a great opportunity to make their life even more pleasant and improve their quality of life. “With our beautiful and rather luxurious class saunas, we offer people pleasant emotions. Customers receive a sauna of the highest quality from us– saunas that are highly valued and demanded by customers, being a great combination of high quality Estonian woodwork and aesthetic design.”

Sales of saunas are booming

Although the global economy is in the midst of difficult times, sauna sales have flourished. This can be explained by the situation where, due to restrictions, people are spending most of their time in their homes and increasingly wish to make their living environment more comfortable and create more opportunities for safe and pleasant leisure time. That’s why Auroom’s sales team has been full of hands-on work as the number of orders is continuously setting new records. In the first quarter of this year, the company’s turnover almost doubled.
Auroom’s versatile and diverse sales team is also behind this result. One of the four salespeople, Chilean Henton Figueroa, who has lived in Estonia for more than 20 years, is the honorary consul of Chile in Estonia and has also won the title of teacher of the year. At the same time, he has long been involved in the sale of ready-made saunas, which is perhaps not a topic close to heart for a regular South American. “The first time I went to a sauna was in 2004. I was so shocked that I almost needed an ambulance,” Henton recalls. “An acquaintance with whom I tried going to the sauna told me to take 110 C degrees of steam, then take one cold beer, then jump into the cold water, then back to the sauna and like that repeated several times. In the end, I was on the verge of shock.”

Fortunately, nothing bad happened, and now Henton goes to the sauna three times a week. Of course, he also has a sauna in his own home now. According to him, sauna culture has quickly become more international and that is no longer anything strange that only Nordic people deal with. “Our products also go to customers in California, Morocco, Taiwan and other countries,” he lists some of the warmer destinations. “We just sent a very majestic cedar sauna to the Italian islands off the coast of Africa, with salt stone covering one of the walls.”

Sauna as a culture project

Triin Kuuse began selling sauna material two years ago, previously working in the field of education. “I wanted to make a turn in my life and got such an interesting offer to sell sauna materials and that’s how I ended up here,” says Triin. She graduated from the University of Hamburg in Germany and worked at the Goethe-Institut, promoting the German language and culture and dealing with cultural contacts throughout Europe. “All this is useful in my work right now as I am familiar with all the cultural peculiarities. Each sauna is also like a small cultural project when it comes to communicating with different customers, ”says Triin. “Being able to deal with these people and understand differences is definitely beneficial. The very fact that I speak German fluently is very important already.”

Because of her love for the German language, Raili Mandre, who has studied to become a German philologist, also came to Auroom because she wanted her work to be related to the German language. That’s how it went. Today, Raili has worked in Auroom for three years and can use German a lot. “When I came here to work, I didn’t know that so many of our saunas would be bought in Europe,” she says. “It has been very exciting to work here. Auroom is still a relatively young company and it has been interesting to follow this development.”

Auroom offers tailor-made work

According to Henton, it’s becoming a standard that a five-star hotel, fitness center or a spa has a decent sauna, whether it’s in the northern or southern hemisphere. Auroom’s main markets currently include Germany, Switzerland, Austria and sales numbers are rapidly increasing in the US, France, and Italy. Auroom co-operates with Estonian Huum and Saunum for the best sauna heaters.

According to Triin, sauna has become more important to people during covid-19 restrictions. “Before, people were used to going to saunas during vacations at hotels or fitness centers, but now, people increasingly dream of owning their own sauna,” she says. “A relevant argument for saunas currently is that sauna strengthens your immune system.”

An increasing amount of customers want tailor-made solutions and such supply capacity is one of Auroom’s greatest strengths. “Estonian carpenters and woodworkers are very skilled, engineers and designers are excellent, and our flexibility and skills to make tailor-made work is very good,” says Henton. “If the customer wants to shift a window or a door a little or change something else in a finished product, we will always do it. Approximately 90 percent of our products have been adjusted according to the customer’s request.” By the way, our customers include presidents and prime ministers from various countries, but their identities must, of course, remain a secret.

As an example of tailor-made work, Triin mentions an outdoor sauna that was mounted and lifted into place by a crane in the Swiss mountains. Similarly, a sauna was lifted on top of a skyscraper in Cyprus.”A dark thermo alder sauna was put on the 11^th floor and the result was just wow! If you take a look at the pictures, the sauna provides an incredibly view – the sea and the lights of the city at the horizon.”

Auroom’s sauna sales are mainly focused on export. Raili Maidre highlights that whilst people in the Nordics and Estonia mostly build their own saunas, people in the rest of Europe prefer ready-made one’s. “During the current pandemic, it seems like people want their own little spas at home,” says Raili.
Thus, Auroom’s manufacturing times have been considerably extended, even though more people have been hired and a lot of work is on-going. “Honor and praise goes to our production team who are working hard on completing all orders,” says Raili.

The choice of wood distinguishes from competitors

Triin Kuuse says she can’t imagine life without a sauna. “I have a wood-heated sauna with birch branches. I try going to the sauna at least once a week and at my parents’ house, I get to swim in a pond, too,” she explains. “I’m a big fan of saunas and as they say, you sell it well if you love it, too. Going to the sauna regularly is very important, it relaxes. After each time, I feel like a new person.” That’s what Auroom’s slogan says too: “Enter the world of rebirth!”

Raili Mandre believes that despite the current busy times, Auroom still has a lot of room for growth. “People have embraced the need to create a more comfortable environment at home, they value it more than before,” says Raili.

If in ancient times the sauna was a place for the nations of the Nordic countries, where people literally were born, it has now become a place to relax, to meditate, and to feel just like you would have been reborn. It is possible that the Auroom sauna is the most beautiful place in the world for such a feeling of rebirth.