Arto Saari is the most renowned professional skateboarder from Finland who later became a photographer. Originally from Seinäjoki, Arto’s passion took him to California and eventually led him to Hawaii, where he now resides. Despite the changing surroundings and decades of living abroad, one thing has remained constant: his love for the sauna.
We joined Arto on his day off from photography exhibition preparations for a trip to the outer Inkoo archipelago. Between the endless rounds of sauna and dips in the ice-cold Baltic Sea, we had a relaxed chat about Arto’s career, his upcoming exhibition and most importantly – how he became the sauna guy of Hawaii.
Let’s start with a short introduction.
My name is Arto Saari. I was born in Finland. I was made in USA. I’m a skateboarder that turned into a photographer later on.
How did it all happen?
Well, I grew up in Seinäjoki, Finland, and I started skateboarding over there and pretty quickly realized that there’s not a whole lot to skate back home. So I went to Helsinki for a few months, but then I just ended up going all the way to California.
Skateboarding is what took me out of Finland and put me out into the world. At the time, I had to choose: do I keep studying, or do I chase this time-sensitive career that could be a total disaster. I chose to go with the disaster. And I’m still on that trip.
“At the time, I had to choose: do I keep studying, or do I chase this time-sensitive career that could be a total disaster. I chose to go with the disaster.”
I started chasing the sun and skate spots, and that was my passion. I got lucky enough when my passion turned into a job for me, and skateboarding and photography formed and photography formed a vessel for me to travel the world.
In your upcoming photo exhibition there are a lot pictures of people skating empty pools. So what’s the thing with empty pools and skateboarding?
The reason why there’s lots of pools in California can be traced back to Finland. Architect Alvar Aalto had designed the world’s first freeform pool for Villa Mairea. The concept of Aalto’s pool was taken over the Atlantic and it later on went like wildfire in California. Pools played an important part in the transformation where surfing evolved into skateboarding. An empty pool is the closest thing that resembles a wave.
And if Aalto took the pool as a concept to California, you took there something else from Finland, which is the sauna. So can we talk about that a little bit?
We’re taking it there piece by piece. I mean, obviously going to California, one of the main things for a Finnish person is: “How come you guys don’t really have any saunas here?” 20 years ago, there were no saunas anywhere in California. It’s a little bit more common now.
During the time that I spent in California, I built one sauna on a trailer, and I was just kind of trailering it around. And actually the first löyly took place on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. That was kind of the christening of the trailer sauna.
“In California I built one sauna on a trailer, and I was just kind of trailering it around. The first löyly took place on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.”
I drove it to Oklahoma after that and introduced löyly to a bunch of people over there and then decided to drive back to California. It was kind of going around Southern California for a while, and I just took it to as many places as I could, and that was a pretty fun time. But eventually I moved into a house where the driveway was too small, so I had to ditch the trailer. I couldn’t keep it anymore.
So I built a stationary sauna next to my pool.
I was like, okay, I have a pool in the house. There has to be a sauna too, even though the pool was empty most of the time (because of skateboarding). And you’ll see it in the photo exhibition because there’s some pictures from there, too. But the sauna has always been pretty close to my heart, and it’s obviously a very Finnish thing.
So nowadays wherever I go, sauna comes up in a conversation sooner or later, usually within the first ten minutes. Now that I’ve been living in Hawaii, the first thing to do was obviously to build a sauna there too.
And now there’s a lot of people visiting you for the sauna?
We have a pretty open door policy (for our sauna). Me and my wife have a lot of friends and now there’s a lot of people that just come over for a sauna. I get a couple texts a day, “Hey, is the sauna on tonight?” “Yeah, at 6 in the evening it’s on. Come over.”
So I’ve kind of become known as the sauna guy in the community, because in Hawaii it’s kind of rare to have saunas. But it’s getting bigger, because there’s a lot of athletes that now use it for recovery. That’s pretty big in America. I feel like saunas in America are more known in the fitness world than what it actually is in Finland and what sauna means for the Finns.
“In Hawaii I’ve kind of become known as the sauna guy in the community.”
It’s interesting to me that there’s a huge trend of people having saunas, ice baths, timers, and a sauna training schedule. It’s like this many times a week, this many minutes in the ice bath, this many minutes in the sauna. Some guys riding an assault bike in the sauna with oven mitts. (laugher)
I’m like okay, where is this thing going? Obviously it’s different. And for better or worse the saunas are there. And they’re taking over because everyone’s fired up about it. But I don’t think many people really know where it came from or what it means, you know?
I feel like for a Finnish person, a sauna is a very holy place. It’s time to take a load off. It’s time to relax. It’s the one place where time doesn’t exist. You know, it’s like you should let your troubles melt away. That’s my idea of sauna.
“For a Finnish person, a sauna is a very holy place. It’s time to take a load off. It’s time to relax. It’s the one place where time doesn’t exist.”
It’s not, it’s not a sports exercise, but I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do it. I just feel like the rest of the world might be missing the point of the culture a little bit, at least what we’re (as Finns) accustomed to. I’m not saying it’s wrong or right, but it’s pretty funny.
I find it funny that the people that come to your sauna now in Hawaii are surfers. And surfers are considered the most relaxed, laid back people. And then you’re kind of teaching them the Finnish way of relaxing. How have they taken it? How do you feel about that?
Well, there’s so many things happening when people come over for sauna and they have this preconceived idea how to do it. “How many minutes do I do this? And what is the protocol?”
I’m like, there’s three rules: no timers, never open the door mid blast (löyly), and always go full ladle. And they’re like, what? I’m like, just get in and just go by those three rules and you’ll find out. Usually it starts to get them there.
Arto’s three rules for sauna:
1. No timers,
2. Never open the door mid blast (löyly)
3. Always go full ladle.
They’re like, “what do you mean, no timer?” I’m like “You’re just fine. Forget about the timer, just forget about time. Right now, this is not a place to worry about time.”
And obviously, you never want to open the door mid blast (löyly). It’s unacceptable. And there’s few people that are catching on to it now.
There’s people who have tried saunas and then there’s people that go into a Finnish sauna for the first time, and it’s a whole different experience. I take a little pleasure in having first timers in the sauna and just going full ladle. You know, I try to keep it easy, but sometimes you just can’t help yourself.
You mentioned the word blast. You kind of came up with a word for löyly in English. How did that come about?
Well, the word löyly is very difficult for a foreigner to say. So once you say löyly, you just lose them. And you’re just like, what? Most people can’t say it.
Blast is like the closest thing that resembles the action of löyly. When you’re in there and it hits you and you’re like, oh okay, this is it. This is a proper blast. So I don’t know how that came about.
It was just me and a couple of friends and I was trying to explain löyly to them. And blasting became the norm.
”Sauna combined with avanto (ice bath) is the closest thing I’ve found, that gives you the ultimate reset. Mind, body and soul.”
Seems like you’ve always had a connection to sauna one way or the other. What is the meaning of sauna for you?
Sauna has always been a really important part of my life. And growing up as a kid, every Saturday was the sauna night. Grandpa would heat it up. We’d go in, we’d hang out.
It’s almost like getting closure to the work week and just taking time off, relaxing and connecting back with yourself. And I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the sauna with my grandfather, so I think that probably has a strong effect on it as well. For me, it’s almost more of a meditation than anything else.
And I have an ice bath too, a makeshift avanto. Sauna combined with avanto is the closest thing I’ve found, that gives you the ultimate reset. Mind, body and soul.
After all this you’re now becoming a Narvi Sauna Ambassador. How does that feel?
Sauna has always been a really important part of my life. And growing up as a kid, every Saturday was the sauna night. Grandpa would heat it up. We’d go in, we’d hang out.
I’m pretty excited about this project and moving forward. I’ve been, I’ve been flying the sauna flag all over the world for a while now. I never thought I’d have a sauna sponsor later on. I thought I would get it for skating, but I guess this is for surfing now. So I get to put a sticker on my surfboard. I’m claiming it hard. I’m a sponsored surfer. For what? For saunas! Well, the main thing is you just don’t want to run out of heat. Keep the fire burning!
Arto Saari Concrete currents in Aalto2 museum in Jyväskylä May 18th – October 27th 2024
Narvi teams up with Arto Saari to launch the Sauna Ambassador Program. This initiative brings together passionate individuals from various fields who share a special connection with the sauna. The program aims to promote and expand the sauna culture worldwide.
Images: Juho Huttunen