BEEF ROBOT MASSAGE?
SPA NEWS | SPA MATCHMAKING | SPA VIBES
There’s a particular grace in timing: the random call, the way an internet friend’s post lands exactly when you’re dead in a brainstorm, water ads on trucks in passing. That serendipity - online and off - keeps pointing to the same place: I’m exactly where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be doing. Even if all other signs are inconclusive at best.
Strange feelings in August, when some days everything feels too slow and not quite right. The Italian coast with tomato and mozzarella sandwiches after long clambering hikes down to rocky beaches, gone for now. Back home, trying to tap into that same energy, just from a different POV. Reflection, like light bouncing OFF water, is not always what it appears to be.
Spa is leisure, letting go, submitting to the process and not the results (those lead to disappointments 9/10). I met a painter in Rome and we were chatting about the process of huge murals - painting small corners, day over day, without giving up and making your own sense of satisfaction.
This month is for rituals, for baseline, for mending and repair, psyche, body, mind, and soul. For clearing the cache and starting again. That’s why I spa, after all.
I’m finishing this letter at the Practica home studio (Nicole Luli Weill and Steven Weill’s creation) where all the connections are coming together & giving a bit of new light, new love, new vibes into the ether. Just like steff yotka at the healm at i-D & Thom off to focus on CONTENT - they were two early adopters to SPA-bagging <3 ilygsm congrats!
At the end of the letter, paid subscribers will be able to access (en proto) THE WELL: a bathhouse & spa industry matchmaking page - a running list of bathhouse projects looking for capital, hands, or expertise. Email me if you have something to list or want to get in touch, much more on this front soon.
xo,
coco
P.S. If you or a friend is in Copenhagen, send them this guide and tell them to thank me later
P.P.S. I’ve decided what I’m doing with the travel writing posts, coverage incoming for Finland, Estonia, Marseille, Paris, Palermo, Aeolian Islands, and a love letter to Southern California summer!
WRITING OF YESTERYEAR
Release Your Rage. Feel Your Calm. Losing my mind over this ROBOT MASSAGE x NETFLIX collab?? Imagining the layers of conversation that went into to planning this… where are the corporate interests aligning???
IS MONTANA OUR SWITZERLAND? Maybe this is where I should start deathspa
Friend of SPA, Tommy, sent through gorgeous Sweden alfresco bathing photos
Sweden! The review: It’s insane. Drop-in. Free (Yes. This is a government funded project. I think also in Sweden (and Scandi in general) everyone has a strong sense of community and they are very respectful of the infrastructure. Everything is free access yet clean and well taken care of)
We can’t have nice things because we have no sense of community and we are not respectful of infrastructure. So until then … the VC backed hotspots will prevail. The closet thing we have in the US right now is THIS & this
A new kind of ring… from an ex oura ring employee. If we need wearable tech… to vibrate… to remind us of the present moment… to remind us we are alive… are we in the matrix already?
TREND CORE laughter via Nolita Dirtbag - Yeah, I’m also not going to pay for ONLY a plunge (sorry but wtf?) and for the love of god no more HAUS!! However, I do like loonen water, as you all know (and have accused me of being in cahoots with! SORRY I’M AN ENTHUSIASTIC WHY DON’T YOU TRY IT?) Thank you Grace Pandola for the excellent link n build moment
SOHO HAUS (they should really rebrand to this) is hiring for their head of soho health, SNAKE SUPER HEALTH and I are in riff land
We know Venice is incoming, Palm Springs, Miami? plus their website talking about a new flatiron build
So many HAND SOAPS!! When do we hit the ceiling? Two that have caught my eye: Naomi (cofounded by someone I went to HS with???) removes cooking food smell from hands! And Le Nose, which hasn’t launched yet, at a very reasonable $10 price point
Speaking of washing, Goop’s first body wash — interesting to lead with a savory (goop kitchen) they said you know what yeah let’s scent this like a ginger shot. I guess they were late to tomato mania but after this morning, I’m hooked on the FE tomato cleaning spray
Sauna theatre at edinburg fringe fest, can wait for someone to send a guest review and I’ll be paying attention to Emma O Kelly IG
I would have postponed my coverage of AMANmx if I worked at SPA business
Add Katie Stone to your weekend reading list & send me YOUR personal definition of what wellness means?
Saunapolo - would you try this? Who is the spectator vs the spectatee? Adding a betting component here is the future!
A lotta chatter about making bathhouses gay again!!! This popular conversation in California and Minnesota finds its way east. Edward Dornblaser wants to know more, The Pigeon is talking about it. In short: money, power, prestige.
With so many new big players coming to the water-based wellness space, I imagine operators and investors want to make it more attractive for government kickbacks, community projects, accolades of building something good for the people, etc. On the contrary, we have a huge divide when it comes to church (care for all) and state (government backed payment of care for all) it’s unclear what the motive is
Writing up some expert opinions from DM’s if you want to be included
Via Emily Sundberg (today!)
From the Feed Me Tip Line: Brooklyn is getting a new wellness club this winter called Saunter. A reader sent me a job description for the mysterious new concept’s Marketing Director. Based on the emphasis of the word “warm” all over the site, I’m guessing this is a sauna-slash-coworking space.
I’m inspired to start a live counter of how many bathhouse projects are soon to be in NYC & LA. Adding that function to The WELL (below)
Social media queens to inspire you this weekend:
Martha Stewart yearly water-based thirst trap this time at her Maine (coolcation) home
HERE WE GO! PAYWALL!!!
