Growing up on a small farm and raising livestock provided a rich environment for learning how to fix worn-out things and build new ones. Through tending animals, running fence lines, mending doors, and tackling endless old-barn repair chores, I discovered the value of hard work—especially work that produced visible, tangible results. In high school, I completed woodworking courses and participated in a work-study program building dollhouse furniture. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this marked the beginning of a lifelong passion for designing, building, and caring for the broader built environment—from furniture to homes, barns, cabinetry, and, eventually, saunas.
I earned a BA in Art and Environmental Design from UC Santa Cruz and returned to Vermont full-time in 1981. In early 1982, I joined Yestermorrow, teaching for the school while also working with the Yestermorrow building group. In the spring of 1986, I left to start my own building company with a focus on historic preservation.
A few years later, I began designing a traditional, freestanding Finnish-style sauna for my family at our home in Duxbury. First put into service in January 1990, this original Solhem Sauna became the foundation of a full-service traditional and modern sauna company, providing equipment, materials, design, consulting, and project management services throughout Vermont and the greater New England region.
The commissioning (first lighting) of that sauna was a transformative moment, yielding two immediate realizations: “This is amazing,” and “Why on earth did I wait so long to build this?” When a friend casually remarked, “This thing is pretty cool—you should make them for other people,” a simple sequence of events unfolded that led to my full-time work as an artisan sauna builder.
As a dealer for Sauna360, and through my two product lines, I have completed more than 175 projects and consulted on, installed, or developed proposals for over 30 public saunas. This deep immersion in sauna culture—building interior modern saunas, as well as light-frame and solid-timber traditional freestanding saunas—has given me a level of understanding that would otherwise have been unattainable.
Working in the wellness field and bringing health, joy, calm, and community to so many people over the years has been profoundly gratifying.
