Tuntu

Tuntuu designed and manufactured hammock benches for saunas and operated in 2009 – 2022. The idea for the new benches started when the father of the idea, Mika Hautamäki, was sitting in sauna and began to develop a new solution instead of straight, hard wooden benches. Hautamäki’s idea was to improve the time spent on the sauna benches with elastically deformable benches. They wanted to have soft, supportive, easy to wash, adaptable and ergonomic sauna benches. This would provide sauna lovers with a relaxing alternative to hard traditional wooden benches.

They founded Tuntu to was founded to commercialize the idea. Carpenter and designer Minna Risku and visual artist Raita Jalander also participated in the development of the benches and the concept of Tuntu. Together with Hautamäki, they aim for the best possible bench solution that makes the sitting position more relaxed. The product development and design resulted in a snug seat, a hammock bench, available in both fabric and wood versions. The benches formed a soft, cup-shaped seat.

Tuntu’s hammock benches were made of fabric, patterned, and unpatterned, and in a wooden mouldable lattice option. These bench seat modules were attached to wooden frame beams, from which they were extremely easy to remove for cleaning. The collection also included footstools with  matching patterns. Sauna cushions were also available. All fabric options were also available with the client’s own design. The products were designed to create a uniform look, comfort, a better relaxation experience and visual appeal to sauna rooms. Part of the vision was the decorative character of the sauna and the benches, which would be better highlighted by the hammock benches.

Tuntu’s archive contains photographs, newspaper cut-outs, brochures, and a presentation video. The material is available only in electronic format. Here you can see Tuntu’s archive catalogue and digitised materials.