The most beloved sauna to Sami Ruotsalainen is a small yard sauna building built by his grandparents in Eastern Finland. He remembers from his childhood its grey wooden surface and how lovely it was to feel the surface of the timber with his little fingers. Designed for the 2023 IKEA x Marimekko collaboration collection, the rhythmic Puuleikkaus (woodcarving) pattern is reminiscent of the surface of a log, hewed into its form with an axe. The pattern can also be seen as an image of Finnish countryside landscapes – the sky meeting the lake’s surface at the horizon when looking out from the terrace of one’s summer cottage sauna.
