Heritage Saunas is a finalist in Brand Expression Websites at the 2026 Best Awards, run by the Designers Institute of New Zealand.
When Heritage Saunas came to us, there was no product to photograph, just a handcrafted redwood sauna brand with real craft behind it and a launch date that landed before the first sauna was finished. What we had was a material palette, a founder who believed completely in the product and a market in New Zealand that didn't really exist yet. The brief became about belief rather than evidence: build a brand world in redwood, steel, stone and steam convincing enough that visitors would feel a Heritage sauna before one existed to stand in.
The site now runs a 4.6% enquiry conversion rate against a 2.7% industry benchmark. Within three months of launch, with no advertising spend and nothing finished to show, Heritage Saunas was fielding enquiries from some of the country's most prominent residential architects and homeowners. Numbers like that are why category mapping happens before anyone opens Figma.
We joined the Designers Institute of New Zealand a few months ago, mostly because I've followed the Best Awards for years and rate the standard higher than most people give New Zealand design credit for. Seeing Heritage Saunas named a finalist in that same field is a good one to sit with.
Winners are announced at the awards night later this year.
