The Earthfire Story

A Legend in the Making

Two of man's most basic instincts - to sit around a fire and to travel to the stars - have one thing in common: the use of very special ceramics can make them happen. The space shuttle uses ceramic tiles that are specially formulated by NASA to withstand the heat generated by re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. "Earthfire has found a way to bring this same property, achieved in a very special ceramic formulation, to the creation of a unique fireplace that can generate heat, absorb and radiate it for hours, as well as be an object of artistic beauty and delight in the home." Alex Kielczynski, Earthfire founder and CEO.

The Earthfire story is one of resilience and tenacity in pursuit of an historic goal – the creation of a glazed ceramic fireplace that takes efficiency and design to the limit of possibility. The successful realization of this goal is best experienced in a warmed room on a winters night. Connect this comfortable environment, and the instinctual human love of an open wood fire it engenders, with the consciously evolved sense that this should be contained by something aesthetically pleasing, and you have the broad formula for success dreamt up by Alex Kielczynski in 1992.

Earth, stars and fire

If the communion with a wood-burning fire has been one of the mesmerizing human forces of the ages, so has the desire to travel to the stars and, in the strangest way, these two apparently dissimilar factors have come together in the Earthfire ceramic fireplace. Not only does the material used in these remarkable products possess the same properties as the silica fiber tiles that protect the NASA space shuttles, but also the same fiber is used in the kiln for the final raku glaze firing of the fireplaces. The shuttle tiles, subjected to the enormous thermal forces of re-entry, absorb the searing heat without expanding or contracting. Earthfire’s product, although coming from a seemingly different engineering origin, does the same in the cozy luxury of your own home!

As it happens, it was the use of the raku firing process, originated in the Far East over 1500 years ago, that inspired Alex to choose the Japanese fire symbol in the Earthfire logo. 

Over the centuries there have been ceramic fires, all unglazed and many carrying with them the awful anticipation of eventual breakage through thermal shock. Alex Kielczynski was determined to change this and, working with the acclaimed ceramic artist, Lesley-Ann Hoets, endured many disappointments in the first few years of arduous research. 

The marriage of art and science

Alex, however, is a qualified and experienced engineer and, combining his academic training with his passion for science, he stuck to his guns. The result was a strikingly attractive functional product that has won design awards but, more importantly to Alex, has earned the profound acclaim of the many thousands of ordinary people, all over the world, who have had their lives warmed and enriched by the acquisition of one of these remarkable hearth fires. 

Although Alex knew where he was going, he needed to be certain of the reliability of his product and went into a research association with the head of the Ceramics Department at the prestigious University of Cape Town. This cooperation gave him access to state-of-the-art testing and analysis equipment, through which he was able to reach his goal of a ceramic material with a zero coefficient of expansion! Here was a clay object that could be taken, white hot, from a pottery kiln and thrown into a swimming pool without cracking! 

As a result of years of hands-on experience of installation he also arrived at the most sensible system for easily and safely setting up the chimney pipes and elevating the entire unit (here he worked with South Africa’s best-known artist blacksmith) for thorough heat circulation. 

By the time his association with Lesley-Ann Hoets ended, a couple of years ago, Alex had enjoyed long and stimulating exposure to the aesthetic requirements of the product and the essential elements of the potter’s craft. He had also developed his own, more simplified design ideas, involving a greater emphasis on form with less, unnecessary decorative augmentation, which, he felt, was detrimental to the overall experience of the Earthfire fireplace.

A primeval skill born in Africa, adopted by the world

From the technological side, wood-burning hearth fires, known in South Africa as imbawula, are universal aspects of African lifestyle and Alex, respecting this tradition, chose to refine the basic technology and add a chimney to adapt to changing living requirements. 

Throughout this period of development, public enthusiasm for the product was increasing rapidly through commercial exposure but also, far more encouragingly, by word of mouth through the great numbers of delighted owners and their friends who were beginning to find the onset of a cold winter far less intimidating. Alex was obliged to move his factory to larger premises and to redesign the entire production facility for even greater efficiency and service.

Front to back: Kobus Goeieman, Kenith Mgwaba, Lawrence Davids, Seymour Guanantin

Now, for the first time, these unique products are available in the United States – each individual piece, subtly original in finish, signed with pride and conviction by the craftsman who hand-built it.

He expanded his multi-ethnic staff (representing the entire South African “Rainbow Nation”) bringing in new talents, skill and commitment to excellence – with a natural, family-like team spirit that encouraged and rewarded new ideas and dedication. The result is already part of history and, it seems certain, Earthfire fireplaces will endure and be part of the success measurement of cultural-craft achievement in the present age.