Gathering place

Fire is synonymous with celebration; it comes in the form of softly flickering candles at a formal dinner, a warm, crackling fireplace at a family gathering, or even the spark that sends fireworks shooting into the sky on New Year’s.

So it seems only natural that fire formed the centre of custom-made winter holiday decorations for the offices of Nu Skin, a direct selling company based in the United States.

Mark Wadsworth of Wadsworth Design, who was commissioned to design and install the EcoSmart fire into the communal dining and gathering area in the spacious lobby of Nu Skin, says fire represents “light, energy and warmth.”

“It invites, inspires and comforts,” explains Mark. “Creating a gathering place and sense of home was important. Considering the enormous scale of the space, the piece needed some size, yet still needed to fit into the dining and lounge area.”

The sleek, modern design of the EcoSmart burner lends itself perfectly to the Nu Skin office environment; the combination of a fairly neutral material and colour pallet, plus subtle texture in the grey granite floor contrasted by bright white walls and a great deal of glass makes for a sophisticated and stylish workplace.

Wadsworth Design worked with Nu Skin to create the custom indoor fireplace, discussing everything from functionality to materials.

“There is a welded steel interior frame, clad in oiled teak,” says Mark. “The fireplace surround is polished nickel plated steel with tempered clear glass. The seating features movable upholstered cushions… the entire unit is comprised of three mobile pieces for ease of transport for off season storage.”

The project was designed and built in three weeks, with all facets of fabrication handled in Wadsworth Design’s facilities. This enabled a quick turnaround.

Mark says although there is a fair amount of natural light in the room, they wanted a large burner for the space; this is one of the primary reasons for choosing EcoSmart for the project.

“EcoSmart facilitated a custom design application,” he explains.

Having designed and manufactured the other components around the burner, there were no issues with installation, other than a concern for the safety of any firebugs who were drawn to the movement of the flame.

“We made the glass sides tall enough and far enough away that access to open flame nor hot glass was an issue,” says Mark.