ELEMENTAL FUSING 05/27/08

Words :: Joanne Elves // Images :: Columbo Construction Group

It all started with a desire for a bonfire on a wet beach. “I’ve always been a bit of a pyromaniac. Not that I set fire to things! But I love what fire does.” This guilty pleasure admission from US based artist, firestarter and founder of Colombo Construction Group, Elena Columbo. “It’s more than heat. In a public place it creates a communal atmosphere; it draws people in to visit and converse. I feel like my fire sculptures help bring people together,” says Colombo from her Brooklyn studio.
People may not draw near with marshmallows, but they will swarm like moths to a flame to enjoy Colombo’s stunning creations. For the last six years, Colombo has been thinking outside the standard glassed-in fake log fireplace, creating unique fire features with fountains and sculptures for indoor and outdoor use. Inspired by nature, Colombo infuses her contemporary designs to create, as she says “jewelry for the landscape. It should feel like it grew there.”
Fire – dancing on water, escaping from rocks or licking the petals of a monstrous metal lotus flower – helps Colombo create stunning works of art, which are igniting interest all over North America. The first and most replicated of these is the firebowl, nominated as Best Outdoor Product of 2004 by the Design and Decoration Awards.
Colombo’s first firebowl was for her rocky beach on Long Island in Greenport, New York. Lamenting that there was no dry wood to burn, the sculptor set out to solve her own problem. As luck would have it, she sparked a new line of classy and unconventional objets d’art.
“I knew the container had to be a bowl because it is probably the first style of vessel ever created by early humans, who depended on fire for more than just entertainment. It’s very primal. The bowl represents the feminine need to nourish and implies the masculine urge to fill,” Colombo explains. “For thousands of years it brought humans together to share food, stories and experiences. During the last hundred years we’ve abandoned the hearth as the focus of community. With these contemporary fireplace designs, people will be drawn to converge at the fire again.”
After creating the bowl for her beach, she brought it into the showroom of Colombo Construction Corporation, where she is the CEO. Hotelier André Balazs was the first customer. He ordered his firebowls sight unseen, and immediately Colombo knew she was on to something good. Those first bowls were installed on the cocktail terrace of Balazs’ Sunset Beach hotel. Since then, he has bought firebowls for several of his hotels and his New York home.
Word of a new trend or design travels like a prairie grass fire; the desire for Colombo’s bowls has flared. Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood has installed ten firebowls around the pool. One of them burns brightly outside the spa of the Lodge at Cordillera, near Vail, Colorado. Three vineyards in the Napa Valley have firebowls gracing their courtyards, and notable socialites include Anne Rice and Lisa Marie Presley.

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