Spaces Inspired by Scandinavian Design in NYC

Scandinavian design is not a style. It is a philosophy. The core idea: strip away the unnecessary. What remains should be warm, functional, and made of materials that age well. Natural wood. Natural light. Natural textiles. Space for quiet.

But there is a second, deeper part of Scandinavian culture that design alone doesn't capture: the bathhouse. The sauna. In Finland there are more saunas than cars. The sauna is not a luxury. It is a basic need -- a place to be restored.

The most direct expression of Scandinavian design philosophy you can experience in New York is not a furniture store. It is a bathhouse.

The Places

Lore Bathing Club / 676 Broadway, SoHo

Lore is explicitly inspired by European bathhouse tradition -- particularly the Finnish and German sauna culture that understands thermal bathing as ritual, not luxury. The interior language is Scandinavian in its bones: natural wood that ages into the space, stone that holds heat, textiles that feel like they were made for this purpose. The Aufguss ceremony is a German-Scandinavian ritual -- guided by a trained Saunameister, a role with a decades-long professional tradition in Europe. Lore brought that practice to SoHo.

The Scandinavian Idea

The reason Scandinavian design travels well is that it is not about aesthetics. It is about relationship -- between a person and an object, a person and a space. Everything in the room should serve you, not the other way around.

At 676 Broadway, that idea is expressed in the most direct way: a space built to restore the person inside it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Come experience the difference.