Dunedin-based fireplace company, Escea Fireplace, recently announced that their not-for-profit initiative, Fire for Life, has recently won gold at the NZ Best Design Awards. The awards were held by the Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ) in Auckland. Escea won the prestigious Purple Award in the Public Good category and two gold awards, including a gold in the Non-Consumer Product category.
“An excellent example of applying one’s trade and tools to an unseen and unique problem on the other side of the planet. A kitset fireplace that easily ships and assembles yet integrates generations of knowledge to channel air and create efficient burning and is all achieved from a single sheet of material. The project embodies great design by solving an old problem, in a novel way.” – Jesse Keith, Convenor for the Product Category
About Escea Fireplace
Locally owned and operated, Escea is a leading name in fireplace design and manufacturing, producing innovative fireplace solutions in New Zealand and globally. The company also focusses on ethical and humanitarian motives.
With more than 12 million refugees in Syria living in displacement camps, open-fire cooking is a way of life for them. Escea Fireplace acknowledged that smoke inhalation from open fires is unsafe while access to fuel is often scarce in developing countries.
Determined to find an alternative, the company built a lightweight stove that ensures smoke-reduced cooking. And that’s how Fire for Life was born!
Fire for Life by Escea
Designed over six years by experienced fireplace designers and engineers in Dunedin, Fire for Life by Escea Fireplace is committed to improving the lives of families in the developing world. It is a not-for-profit initiative that provides families in displacement camps with portable cooking stoves that use:
- Less fuel
- Produce less smoke
- And cook faster
First started distributing stoves in 2021, Escea has helped over 5,000 families in Syria by providing them with a more practical way to cook. The company uses some of the profit it makes from selling fireplaces to fund the manufacturing and distribution of these stoves.
“Making innovative fireplaces is at the core of everything we do. So, when we saw an opportunity to improve the lives of people who only have an open fire to cook on, it was a no-brainer for us to get involved.” – Nigel Bamford, the Founder of Escea
Fire for Life is also a continuing partnership with ReliefAid to deliver more stoves to those who have been forced out of their homes, while also getting in touch with new communities where this project could make a difference. The project is only a beginning; Escea aims to continue looking at how to service communities in the developing world.
The journey continues…
It’s through recognition like the NZ Best Design Awards that shed light on the global issue at hand, creating a positive impact on the lives of thousands of families in developing countries. So, when you choose Escea Fireplace, you’re partnering with a company that not only delivers quality products, but also addresses global issues and helps communities in need around the world.