Bespoke Fireplace Design: Working with Architects and Interior Designers

Bespoke fireplace design is the process of specifying a fireplace to the architect's drawing rather than to the manufacturer's flue, chimney, or gas-line constraints. Ventless bioethanol fireplaces remove those constraints entirely, letting designers position the fire wherever the brief requires: a freestanding sculpture in the middle of a double-height living room, a built-in insert reading as a horizontal slot in a feature wall, a fire feature on a covered terrace, or a centrepiece in a hotel lobby where structural penetrations were never on the table.

That freedom resolves into two specification routes. The first is placement-led: a freestanding designer piece that arrives as a finished object, sits on the floor, and integrates into the room through proportion and material. Our designer fireplaces collection covers the placement-led route in full. The second is architecture-led: a built-in burner insert that disappears into a custom surround built by the architect's joinery contractor. Both routes draw on the same combustion technology; the design language is what diverges. Knowing which route a brief belongs to is the first decision in any bespoke specification.

The collaboration with EcoSmart Fire's specifier team moves through four stages. Each one feeds the next, and each one tightens the design until the drawing carries everything the contractor needs.

1. The design brief. Room dimensions, ceiling height, intended atmosphere, indoor or outdoor setting, residential or commercial use, finishes already locked into the palette, and any sustainability targets the project is reporting against. This is also where the specifier flags listed-building constraints, apartment-tower restrictions on flued appliances, or open-plan volumes where ventilation behaves differently.

2. Concept selection. The brief resolves into a specification route: a freestanding statement piece, a built-in insert behind a custom surround, or a wall-integrated frame. Sightlines, material palette, and the role the fire will play in the room shape which family the project draws from. Focal centrepiece, ambient layer, or two-sided room divider, each pulls from a different part of the catalogue.

3. Technical specification. The numbers land on the drawing. Burner sizing against room volume. Clearance envelopes to combustibles, glazing, joinery, and overhead elements. Substrate-specific fixing detail. Access strategy for refuelling and cleaning. Power-free, but planning still required.

4. Installation handover. Commissioning, finishing instructions for the joinery contractor, fuel-storage planning that respects the safety rule about never storing bioethanol below the appliance, and the specifier-facing documentation the design team hands to the client at practical completion.

The four stages interlock more than they sequence. A late material change in stage two often re-opens a clearance question in stage three; an ambitious overhead detail in stage three pushes back into stage two for an alternative product family. The team you collaborate with carries the brief across all four stages, which is the practical difference between a supplier and a design collaborator. EcoSmart Fire's Designer Program tier adds CAD files, AR and 3D models, live inventory, and a dedicated project concierge to keep the workflow moving once construction starts.

Three numeric requirements move the bespoke fireplace from concept into a buildable detail. They are not advisory; they are the conditions under which the appliance is certified to operate.

Indoor residential briefs lean on the room-volume table and the clearance envelope. The surround substrate is the conversation point: what the architect's chosen finish material can hold, what needs non-combustible backing, and how the fire screen access is detailed. Most bespoke residential projects use the same combustion module the architect would specify on any indoor brief; the bespoke layer sits in the joinery surround, the stone selection, and the wall composition.

Outdoor residential briefs change the input. The Pop series carries dual indoor and outdoor certification, which means the same sculptural object can move between a winter living room and a summer terrace without re-specification. Outdoor use requires removing the rubber plug from the burner tray to allow drainage, a small detail, but one worth noting on the install sheet so the contractor doesn't miss it. Wind exposure, screening, and overhead clearance to any pergola structure all feed into the outdoor specification.

Hospitality and commercial briefs change the operational model. The conversation moves from how it looks to how it runs: durability under daily use, repeat-fill workflow for housekeeping or front-of-house, fuel-storage logistics that respect the safety rules, and guest-safety distances in public circulation. EcoSmart Fire's hospitality footprint includes specifications for Four Seasons, Marriott, Hilton, MGM Grand, Accor, W Hotels, and Starwood. The products in service across those brands are the same ones a residential specifier reaches for, which is part of why the sustainable luxury credentials of bioethanol translate cleanly between sectors. Specifiers on North American projects should confirm current regional availability and any product-specific restrictions directly with the EcoSmart Fire specifier team before locking the schedule.

The details that catch architects out tend to sit in the post-specification phase, after the burner has been chosen and the surround is being detailed.

The first is glass fire screen access. The borosilicate glass screen that sits over the burner needs to come out for refuelling and routine cleaning. If the custom surround encloses the appliance so tightly that the screen can't be lifted clear, the unit can't be serviced. The surround detail needs an access reveal, sometimes a top-mounted opening, sometimes a side reveal, depending on the burner family, and that reveal needs to be drawn into the joinery package, not improvised on site.

The second is fuel storage. e-NRG bioethanol fuel must never be stored below the fireplace appliance. The rule is a hard safety constraint, and it shapes the bespoke surround and cabinetry design more often than designers expect. If the architect was planning a discreet base cabinet under the firebox to hold spare fuel, that cabinet needs to move: somewhere ventilated, somewhere upright, somewhere not directly beneath a heat source. In hospitality projects this usually resolves into a back-of-house store room; in residential, it tends to be a utility space.

The third is approved surface materials. The hearth and any direct-contact surfaces under and around the burner module need to be non-combustible. The adjustable feet on freestanding designer pieces preserve the 12.5 mm underside airflow gap regardless of the floor finish, but that gap needs to be respected; a thick rug pushed up against the base will compromise it. Built-in inserts need the same airflow logic respected inside the firebox cavity.

A short pre-install checklist worth handing to the contractor:

• Confirm the glass fire screen can be lifted clear of the surround for refuelling and cleaning.

• Locate fuel storage away from and never below the appliance.

• Preserve the underside airflow gap: 12.5 mm minimum for freestanding designer pieces, 40 mm for built-in burner installations.

• Floor-fix the appliance using the correct procedure for the substrate type before first burn.

EcoSmart Fire's specifier team supports each of these details during the install phase, including pre-handover commissioning where the project warrants it.

The collaboration logic is straightforward: bring the brief, the drawing, and the constraints; come away with a specification that lives inside the architectural composition rather than fighting it. The room volume sets the burner. The clearance envelope sets the surround. The product family sets the design language. Once those three decisions are made in the right order, the bespoke fireplace stops being a piece of infrastructure and starts being a piece of architecture.

When the brief is ready, the EcoSmart Fire specifier team is the right door to knock on for a project-specific conversation rather than a sales pitch.