Bonfire - Contemporary Style

By Pari Syal

Cathy Azria draws her inspiration from natural materials, organic forms, the interplay of light and a conviction that – what is functional in the home can also be beautiful.

What may seem like a niche in the wall could well denote several artistic possibilities to Cathy Azria, a fireplace sculptor. Cathy likes nothing better than to design sculptural installations for interiors creating some excellently attired hearths. “I have always been attracted to the inner temple of the fireplace – it’s like a cave,” informs the sculptor, adding, “It’s a natural focus and I love the idea of entertaining the flames – giving them a sculptural form to play around.”

Simulating an overnight success story, Cathy, who now heads B+D Design, London, began by making a sculptural fireplace for herself and then for appreciative friends and relatives; before long, she had made a vocation out of her passion, shipping her fireplace sculptures all over the world.

Aspiring to associate an element of fun on the users’ faces, Cathy draws her inspirational vibes from anything and everything around her. Like the ‘Metropolis’ sculpture, which is a cinematic influence - a homage to Fritz Lang’s 1920’s classic silent film. The sculpture harnesses tall strips of metal to create a skyline in the fireplace – a skyline on fire when the gas flames lick through the metal skyscrapers.

Blurring the distinction between function and art, her naturalistic bonfires make a great job of concealing the gas burners and range from evoking burning branches or wigwam structures, to loops and coils inspired by the rings around the planet Saturn and the like. Her concept of using metal as a foil to flames is a hugely successful application, both for its sculptural potential and for the way it responds to heat; transforming it into glowing forms, creating spectacular effects, which are different each time the fire is lit.

“It is not necessary to have a fireplace to begin with,” she explains, “But it is necessary to accommodate a flue as gas-generated flames are integral to the concept.” In addition to indoor hearths, Cathy now also specialises in outdoor hearths, creating a close clone of a traditional bonfire, but of steel set into a bed of chippings, or designed into a chimney, or better still, set on a slab. She works by establishing a train of thought, then developing and refining it in response to each client’s requirements. Every piece is therefore unique, signed and numbered by its creator.