Emma O’Kelly

I’ve known Emma O’Kelly since she and Matt were traveling to Africa together for Wallpaper* (where she is still a contributing editor), back in the late ‘90s—she was the writer and he was the photographer. We ran into each other several years later at the Villa Feltrinelli on Lago di Garda—one of those IYKYK spots—and, of course, she knew. She has always had a nose for what’s next and what’s great. Naturally, her new book, Sauna: The Power of Deep Heat, is just brilliant, and at a time when so many books are filled with stock photography, she actually traveled with a photographer, Maija Astikainen, to create this beautiful tome. We caught up with her recently and drilled down on the book, which we hope you pick up—it’s just lovely! 

You drove 10,000 miles to track down saunas in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Estonia. How did you identify which ones you wanted to experience?