The story of Kirami

"Is that a sauna without a roof?"

Mika learned about hot tubs while living in Sweden in 2000: “this was the spark that would lead to the creation of Kirami. At the time there were no hot tubs available in Finland, but we believed there would be a demand for them. We imported our first tubs from Sweden, but we soon started our own production since we wanted to offer better quality to our customers.

The production started in an old and only partially heated tractor shed owned by Tapani Rantanen in Kikkerlä, Sastamala. There, we manufactured two types of aluminium tubs and spruce tubs with internal heaters. Wood-heated hot tubs were a new thing in Finland: at trade fairs, we had to explain to people that our products were not, in fact, roofless saunas.

Hot tubs 

We moved to larger facilities in Kiikka and expanded our selection. Soon, we started another facility to increase our production capacity. As a result of our product development, we started manufacturing Thermowood tubs and powerful TUBE heaters, in addition to the spruce and aluminium models. Thanks to our determined research and development, we became pioneers in wood-heated heaters and leaders of our industry.

Plastic tubs gain ground

The goal of our product development has always been hot tubs that are more user-friendly and easier to care for than before. A hot tub with a plastic inner tub was a new product that immediately became incredibly popular. To make the hot tub experience more comfortable, we also introduced a range of Kirami maintenance supplies for the Finnish market.

In 2009, we introduced a wooden, above-ground swimming pool and a compatible heater.

As the demand for our products grew, our production capacity also increased, which led to us purchasing new and larger facilities in Sastamala. The facilities are still in use. Now, we have over 3,000 square metres of heated space to meet the needs of our ever-growing business. We pay attention to the ergonomics and efficiency of our production, and we also invest in new equipment and tools.

New surfaces and materials

We were the first hot tub manufacturer to use wood-plastic composite in the exterior panelling of hot tubs. Our corporate look also changed when we updated our image and divided our products into three product families: Original, Comfort and Premium. The Cozy hot tubs of the Comfort family and the Red Cedar panels, available for plastic Cozy tubs and aluminium Ultima tubs, were the newest additions to our collection.

In addition to our look, we also updated our website. We are constantly updating our site by writing blog posts and adding new language versions to serve our expanding international clientele. We are also refining our communications and instructions and developing our data systems to make our products more traceable and our deliveries more reliable.

In the production side, we invested in a large cold storage facility where we can organise our incoming materials and store the finished items of larger orders before they are sent out into the world.

In 2013, we experienced a generational change when the senior leadership retired from our business.

Special steel and bold decisions

We developed more products to make hot tub experiences even more pleasant, such as the floating Tubbar cup holder and the unbreakable Drinkit champagne glasses, to name a few examples. We also took a step into the unknown: we created the Outstanding collection made of Corten steel. The collection includes high-quality, Finnish-made products for garden decorations and outdoor cooking. The Triholdy decoration and the Freedom outdoor fire were our first Outstanding products.

By popular demand: an expanded hot tub collection

Our product selection grew even more. A larger Cozy tub, suitable for a larger party, was added to our popular Comfort family. We also introduced the Family tub, the design of which focused on children, the elderly and disabled bathers. The new, luxurious Premium tubs replaced the aluminium tubs, and Minipool Grandy was introduced to combine the best qualities of a tub and a pool. For urban gardens, we introduced the Family City product, in which the water is heated and cleaned by an electric Tubtainer maintenance unit. A new LED lighting solution placed inside the tub, with the light shining through the tub, helps create a comfortable atmosphere in the dark.

Since the beginning, we have been working on improvements for our wood-heated heaters and their power, appearance and cost efficiency. We constantly produce and test prototypes to ensure the quality and power of our heaters. In autumn 2017, we also started using simulations of the heaters’ fire chambers, which makes development faster.

The Outstanding collection also grew: as a result of long-term development, we introduced the Roasty Boss barbecue and the Iron Monster frying plate.

We also created a 3D configurator for mobile devices to make choices easier for our customers. You can view the models and colours on your phone or tablet and see how the tub would look in your garden.

Our years of active participation in the EU’s standardisation work is finally bearing fruit as the EN-17125 standard for hot tubs will be published in late 2018.

Breaking new ground

Kirami expanded its product range to include saunas by launching the Kirami FinVision® sauna. Thanks to its growing popularity, a separate Sauna Factory was opened in November 2020. Other new products included the smaller Tiny hot tubs as well as the Tubbar2 floating drink holder. Operations in Sweden grew at such a rate that in February 2020 Kirami Oy considered it necessary to establish a sister company, Kirami Ab, to serve the Swedish market.

Kirami 20 years

Kirami’s 20th year of operations started in January with the opening of an export and marketing office in Turku; the official date of the 20th anniversary is in May 2021.

On May 28, 2021, Kirami joined Harvia Group with the acquisition.