STORY · SINCE THE 1940S

“Curious, delightfully stubborn and a little sauna-mad engineer. That is how it all began.”

From one bather’s discontent began a development journey that continues in its third generation.

LATE 1930S

The story of a grandfather who could not find his stove.

Gösta was a graduate engineer and a true sauna enthusiast. According to family lore, he would have gladly taken a sauna three times a day: before work, upon returning home, and once more before sleep. Heating the sauna during the day, however, took so much time that this was not always possible.

Heating speed was not the only problem. The steam from a standard continuously heated stove at home did not match what Gösta yearned for. His benchmark was the smoke sauna at the family cottage and its soft, moist, long-lingering steam.

Gösta did not want to choose between a quickly heating sauna and exceptional steam. He set out to find whether the same stove could do both.

JUUP Original patent drawing — Patent drawing No. 31463 (1952).

1930S → 1970S

Smoke sauna steam in a continuously heated stove.

In the summer cottage smoke sauna, Gösta had noticed that water thrown on the stones did not vaporize solely on the surface. Water flowed deeper into the hot lower rock mass, its hiss intensifying as it met the hotter base stones. The steam formed at the bottom rose back up through the cooler upper stones before dispersing into the sauna.

From this observation arose the concept of a deep stone bowl placed directly on top of and partly inside the firebox. The bottom stones heated intensely, while the upper stones remained cooler. This allowed water to reach the hottest bottom stones and steam to rise back through the upper rock layer.

The idea took shape in the late 1930s before the war. Afterwards, Gösta continued development with drawings, prototypes, and sauna trials. By family records, the first working prototype was finished in the late 1940s. The design was named Juup Original, and in 1952 received patent No. 31463. Gösta produced and sold Juup stoves through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

EXPLORE HOW THE STONE BOWL WORKS →

Ivar development drawing — Development drawing by Ivar.

Nearly 60-year-old Original stove in lakeside sauna — Nearly 60 yr old Original.

Modern generation JUUP stove — New generation stove.

1980S → PRESENT

The principle endured. Innovation continued.

Gösta’s son Ivar continued the development in the 1980s and 1990s. He focused on refining the combustion engineering and core functional mechanics of the stove.

In 2015, Christian discovered the old JUUP drawings among his father’s papers. At the same time, the lakeside sauna still had its original stove functioning after nearly six decades. The stove is still preserved today.

In 2019, Christian founded Ab Juup Oy to build upon his grandfather’s invention and his father’s development work. He brought the stoves into the 21st century as a Finnish family company and began introducing JUUP internationally. Product development continues continuously.

TIMELINE

LATE 1930S

Idea of smoke sauna steam in a continuously heated stove is conceived

LATE 1940S

First working prototype is completed

1952

Patent No. 31463 is granted for the invention

1980S–1990S

Ivar develops combustion airflow and structure

2019

Christian establishes Ab Juup Oy family company

2020

New generation JUUP Original is launched

2022

JUUP Iivari is introduced to the market

2025

JUUP Gösta is introduced

OUR COMPASS

We follow our own path.

Through three generations the stoves have evolved, but the guiding thought remains: one’s direction is not chosen by watching where others are going.

01

Courage to be different

We do not design stoves based on what others do. We follow our own compass and dare to choose another road.

02

Bringing people together

A sauna stove creates shared moments between families, friends, and people meeting for the first time.

03

Built to endure

The goal is not to manufacture in vast volume, but to craft stoves that earn their place in the sauna for years and decades.

Language and region

“Curious, delightfully stubborn and a little sauna-mad engineer. That is how it all began.”

The story of a grandfather who could not find his stove.

Smoke sauna steam in a continuously heated stove.

The principle endured. Innovation continued.

We follow our own path.

Courage to be different

Bringing people together

Built to endure

One stove at a time.

The story continues.

“Curious, delightfully stubborn and a little sauna-mad engineer. That is how it all began.”

The story of a grandfather who could not find his stove.

Smoke sauna steam in a continuously heated stove.

The principle endured. Innovation continued.

We follow our own path.

Courage to be different

Bringing people together

Built to endure

One stove at a time.

The story continues.

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