Creating Stillness: Freya Berwick on Expanding Sense Of Self to Sydney

When Freya Berwick opened Sense Of Self in Melbourne in 2020, she wasn’t just creating a bathhouse – she was reimagining how Australians engage with wellness. Drawing inspiration from her time in Norway, and informed by a background in hospitality, Freya brought together thoughtful design, genuine care, and a reverence for ritual to craft a space where people could simply be. 

As Sense Of Self prepares to open a second, more expansive (1,000 sqm!) location in Sydney later this year, Freya reflects on how design, community, and intention continue to shape her vision – and why sometimes, the most radical thing we can do is slow down.

When you opened Sense Of Self in 2020, it was one of Melbourne’s first urban bathhouses. Since then, there’s been a noticeable rise in bathhouses and wellness spaces across Australia. What do you think is driving this renewed appreciation for communal bathing and dedicated wellness centres?

There was a super sweet Japanese onsen in Melbourne before we opened, so we weren’t the first urban bathhouse here but we were the first to bring a more modern, approachable and relevant positioning of this ancient pastime to Melbourne, and the first to really lean into design and brand to achieve that. 

I think many practices that involve slowing down, listening to the body and being in the presence of others are becoming more valued at the moment. This makes a lot of sense when we look at the pace of our lives, driving burnout, disconnection, and ultimately disembodiment, so anything that brings us back into our bodies and connecting to those around us acts as an antidote to this. 

When you first envisioned Sense Of Self, did you anticipate that Australia was on the cusp of a wellness shift, or was it more of a personal passion that happened to align with a broader movement?

I remember pitching Sense Of Self when we were looking for backers and talking about there being a ripe opportunity to apply a global approach to the spa industry, which was historically built around exclusivity and affluence, so that it can become a more normalised, no-fuss part of the cultural fabric, as it is in other parts of the world, and here we are. I am cautious about calling it a movement though- we intend on being here in 20 years time, so try to put our blinders on to some of the more trend-led shifts. 

Having spent many years in Europe, and being very passionate about hospitality (in the true sense of the word), building a business that brings together brand, design and exceptional customer care to transport people to somewhere else was also something I always wanted to do. 

Your time in Norway introduced you to the deep-rooted Scandinavian tradition of communal bathing. How did that experience shape your vision for Sense Of Self, and what aspects of Nordic bathing culture felt most important to bring into an Australian setting?

Above all else, my time in Norway taught me about connection to self, which for me is very strongly correlated to both connection to nature and community. The sauna played a part in this discovery, witnessing the fuss-free approach to nudity and the calm of a sauna ritual- people just ‘being’ together. And then there was the epic nature, which I was in awe of, and which brought so much perspective to my world view. 

How this shows up at Sense Of Self is creating space to just be, and resisting layering that with shoulds, coulds, and trends, and using design (in lieu of epic mountains and fjords!) to elicit a sense of awe and wonder. 

When I visited Sense Of Self, I was delighted to be given two instructions; please don’t take your phone into the bathhouse, and please don’t speak during Quiet Mornings – until 12pm on weekdays. In a world that feels increasingly overstimulating, this felt like such a gift. What inspired the decision to create these quiet, phone-free moments?

Well, the no-phones are paramount! How can we switch off and try to be present with ourselves when there are phones involved?

So while people capturing content and taking pics (which we are all wired to do as soon as we see something beautiful these days) is probably great for marketing, it does not help our guests achieve what they have booked in for, so we are a strict no on that.

And the SOS Quiet Mornings came from a need to balance the solo vs social nature of a communal bathhouse, because it can (beautifully) facilitate both, but we wanted to introduce some soft programming that allows guests to opt in.

Second to the functional, reducing the senses down in such a sensory space feels so magical, and like with the phones, there are rarely environments where we are actively given permission to not talk.

Sense Of Self has become a beloved space in Melbourne, and now you’re preparing to open a 1,000 square metre bathhouse in Sydney later this year. What excites you most about this expansion, and how will this new space build upon what you’ve created in Melbourne?

I am moving to Sydney so I am super excited to meet our Sydney guests and for Sense Of Self to provide a beloved place for them to regularly commune, feel well, connect and check out.

Our staff are very much a part of that community, being the ones who welcome all of our guests, and are often frequent bathers themselves (they get free access!), so I am very much looking forward to meeting, hiring, and enveloping those people into what we do at SOS.

And I am beyond excited about the design. Honestly, working with creatives to bring spaces like these to life is such a long, iterative, and often onerous process, but getting to the end and experiencing the tiny details we all laboured over is beyond rewarding. I still pop downstairs during the day in Collingwood (to fill up my soda water, ha) and am in awe of what the team created there.

Since opening Sense Of Self, what have been some of your proudest moments – whether personal, business-related, or in seeing the impact the space has had on the community?

The thing that brings me close to (happy) tears on the regular is observing the staff operate and make decisions for the company, its staff, and its guests in a way that is so thoughtful and caring that my heart bursts. On this theme, I recently had a baby so I stepped away for a few months, and they ran that place like it is their own, which I was beyond proud of. 

I am also super proud of the way we make decisions as an organisation- we are always very thorough, thoughtful, and never want growth to be at the expense of quality or care. 

You can find the most up to date news on the Sydney opening here.