By Justus Benson / Director of Product Development & Installs
📍 Rural Wisconsin | August 2025
I usually let the work speak for itself. That’s how I was raised in rural Wisconsin: keep your head down, use your hands, and build something you’re proud of.
Among the list of bespoke builds (featured below), our team in Ashland has designed and constructed sauna rooms and recovery spaces for the staff of the Green Bay Packers and Crunch Fitness. We recently collaborated with Saunaday in Madison to design and supply materials for a collection of hot rooms in a bathhouse that’s transforming how people connect in the city.
We built a custom wood-fired Mod8 for Tuli Sauna and Plunge (see our recent launch of the Mod6) on a trailer, nestled next to 7 Acre Dairy on the Sugar River outside of Madison, WI. We put that sauna to the true test in advance of it’s public opening this weekend.
Mod 8 (coming soon...)
Saunaday
CEO, David Dragseth's Bespoke Sauna at his Cabin. Please enjoy the mud spa treatment image. The image says it all!
Löyly Lounge
Some projects get a little wild. Last winter, we set up AITO saunas for A-list celebrities, even craned one over a multi-million-dollar home in Los Angeles — days before the wildfires swept through the canyon.
There was a time when I was concerned about that job. Would the sauna survive the fires? Would that client be safe? Those questions stuck with me.
The gear held, the sauna stood, and the client still sweats in it today. That’s the kind of work I take pride in.
At the end of the day, whether it’s staff or athletes, festival-goers, celebrities, or locals just looking for a place to unplug, the need is the same. A sauna that’s built right. Heater in the right spot. Benches that last. Woods that feel good in the hand and smell right in the heat. Cedar, Aspen, Basswood, and specialty thermally modified species from Thermory — chosen not for show, but because they work.
No shortcuts. No gimmicks. Just spaces that deliver. That’s the job.
I’ve just gotten word that the Black Rock Sauna Society’s container sauna arrived safely — this year marks the camp’s third time bringing it to Burning Man. The sauna was purchased and built by more than 15 BRSS members, with the interior design planned by a designer, architects from Finland, and fine-tuned through months of group revisions with the BRSS members. I was proud to be one of the main hands on the buildout, helping bring those details to life. Nothing like seeing a large shipping container hot room rise up in the desert, then watching people find stillness in the middle of chaos.
Out there in the dust, it proves again: if you build it right, it holds.
Justus believes in building with intention. He applies this philosophy to every project, just as he does to his love for his family, great glasses, and creating truly immersive experiences through the practice of sauna.
From left to right: Justus and his shades in a sauna, Justus and his sister (CMO, Shaelyn Crutchley), Justus' lovely mother, and Justus and 2 of his kids.
I’ll close with sharing one project that sticks with me: the Starlight Lounge, a favorite collaboration with David, our CEO. The design included modern wave-like benching, Cariitti Starry Night Lighting — meant to echo the same night sky our ancestors shared — and Thermory’s Ignite Brushed Black heat treated wood. We built it inside a container, much like the Black Rock sauna at The Burn.
That’s what I love about this work. It’s not just saunas — it’s stories, connections, and places where people find stillness. From stadium saunas and celebrity installs, to Madison’s first bathhouse, to a container glowing in the desert dust, each build is different but the pride is the same.
Out there under the starlight — or inside a sauna built right — I remember why we do this.
