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For the past 37 years, Vince Jankowski has been responsible for
designing Real-Fyre logs. When he first began the task of creating
authentic-looking ceramic logs, he had difficulty finding real log
segments that he could use as models. So, Jankowski resorted
to"creating" his own ideal logs. He collected wood logs on the basis of
bark texture or knots, then stripped the wood and separated the bark
from the knots. Finally, to create his prototype, he glued the knots to
a redwood log form and fastened the bark around the knots. These models
were then used to produce molds. Once the ceramic logs have been
hand-poured and fired, they are dipped in a mix to enhance their color.
Some styles, such as Birch and Split Oak, are further hand-painted to
create a realistic appearance. With this process, the manufacturers
"defy the viewer to tell whether you have wood or Real-Fyre Gas Logs in
your fireplace."
But while the company emphasizes that there is little difference between
the appearance of ceramic logs and real tinder, the most important
difference is the experience of a real fire and a "Real-Fyre." Although
Real-Fyre logs produce the heat that you may want, they do not crackle
or snap. The logs never smolder or reduce to ashes, and the flames
never die. This is intrinsically uninteresting and intensely
disappointing because the life of a fire is what gives a fireplace --
the hearth, or literally, the home -- its warmth and hospitality. A
fireplace is romance and nostalgia; does a fire that more closely
resembles a stovetop range in its origins and mechanism cheapen the idea
of building a fire to warm and bring people together? Already, fire in
modern American culture is typically experienced by very limited means,
such as cigarettes, aromatherapy candles, and barbecue grills, and
fireplaces in suburban America represent one of the last (legitimate)
places where fire is allowed to burn. Of course it is crucial to
contain the potential devastation of fire, but by constantly trying to
negate its hazardous attributes, we also "sanitize" fire and distance
ourselves both physically and mentally from its primal danger. |