Decorative electric fireplace: more real than life!
Decorative electric fireplace: more real than life!
New technologies have made it possible to create decorative electric fireplaces with an almost perfect illusion! Bluffing and accessible to a maximum number of households, including tenants and students. Here’s an update from Eric Chamoux, Marketing Director of Efydis, the company behind the Chemin’Arte brand, whom we interviewed for the blog.
Hello Eric, how is Chemin’Arte doing today? Is it working?
E.C: Yes, it’s actually working quite well, with a 2016 range that we’ve expanded to bring even more realism and choice. This year we’re offering an electric fireplace that imitates glowing logs to perfection, a wood-burning stove and mantel fireplaces that look as if they’ve stepped straight out of an Art Deco decor(Cheminée Manhattan).
How do you achieve this realism?
E.C: It’s a real process and a real team effort, and it’s not just about technology. We’re constantly on the lookout for new technology, but also for trends in decoration and lifestyle. With the growing awareness of sustainable development issues, nature is playing an increasingly important role in people’s lives. Fire and wood are sought-after for their warmth and, dare I say it, comfort and conviviality. These elements bring to mind the idea of gathering, with family and friends, around the fireplace. I think that the current crisis is important. It pushes us to innovate in order to be as faithful as possible to the desired realism.
Chemin’Arte is one of the brands recognized for the quality of the flame it produces. This is very important. Our LED by Chemin’Arte technology contributes to this flame realism. All this is complemented by a design faithful to that of classic fireplaces.
Our mantelpieces always amaze me, despite my job at the company (laughs).
What major trends do you see?
E.C: This year, the surprise came from the temperatures and their impact on the desire for fireplaces. We had a particularly mild winter in Southern Europe, with only a few spikes of snow and cold. Against all expectations, customer demand increased. I think that decorative electric fireplaces have found their audience, and are increasingly replacing other types of auxiliary heating, considered less safe, such as stoves and bio-ethanol fireplaces. They have also become highly efficient, replacing a convector heater.
As a result, realism is a real requirement, as is design. Electric fireplaces are the focal point of a room: the design has to be up to the task! That’s why we’ve created fireplaces to suit every taste, from the teenager’s or student’s bedroom with our ball model, to the Courchevel, a sleek XXL model enhanced by LEDs, and the metal effect of Pure Inox, which comes in several sizes.
But my personal favorite is the log-burning fireplace, because this innovation will enable tenants or homeowners to enjoy their old fireplace that was no longer working. Now that’s something to bring life into any home.
A few decorating tips around the fireplace for our readers?
E.C: The Scandinavian style is beginning to fade in favor of a more assertive, early twentieth-century retro spirit, giving way to graphic, travel-inspired motifs. Natural, raw materials will be very much in evidence, such as sheepskin rugs, wood-style wall coverings, linen for sofas…
The graphic trend is confirmed. These two trends complement each other well, and that’s just as well, because mix and match will be the order of the day: you can opt for a fireplace with a very clean design and put a patterned woollen rug in front of it, or place it next to a sofa full of graphic cushions. When it comes to colors, you can opt for large flat tones of tonic or, on the contrary, slightly muted hues. A model like RedLine in XXL can play the focal point with great theatricality.
