The Ashwood Fire Pit, 3mm Rust Steel Bowl 60cm

Fire in a plain steel dish, and the evening finally slows down.

The Ashwood is a wide open fire bowl in 3 mm fabricated steel, finished in a natural rust patina, standing on a tapered four sided plinth with the rivet heads left showing down each corner seam. It measures 60cm across and 32cm tall, and it weighs 9 kg empty. Most garden fire bowls on the market are pressed from sheet about 1 mm thick. This one is 3 mm, three times that, and it is the whole difference. Thin steel buckles as it heats and cools, then splits along the fold. Thick steel takes the same heat and stays the shape it was made in.

The shape is deliberately quiet. A shallow dish, a plain flared base, no scrollwork and no cut out patterns, so what you look at is the fire and the people around it. It is made to live outdoors permanently: rust is the finish, not a fault, and weather deepens it.

Why we love it

• ◆3 mm steel, three times the thickness of the 1 mm pressed bowls this shape usually comes in, so it holds its shape season after season
• ◆The weight, 9 kg empty, so wind moves the smoke and not the bowl
• ◆The rust patina, warm orange across the broad faces, dark russet where water runs, and it only improves outdoors
• ◆The plain shape, a shallow dish on a flared plinth, no fretwork and no fuss, so it sits under anything from a stone terrace to a modern deck

How to style it

A fire pit sets the seating, so place it first and arrange everything else around it.

• Leave about a metre of clear ground on every side, then bring the chairs in to that line
• Set it on stone, pavers or gravel rather than timber decking or dry grass
• Ring it with lanterns at ground level so the light carries once the fire dies down
• Pair it with the rest of our garden and outdoor pieces for one weathered palette

Care & Keeping

Let the ash cool completely, then lift it out and keep the bowl clear, because wet ash sits against the steel and holds moisture. Tip the bowl or cover it after heavy rain so water does not pool. The rust patina needs no sealing and will darken around the bowl with use, which is normal. Never use accelerants, never leave it burning unattended, and keep it well clear of walls, fences and anything overhanging.

Because The Ashwood Fire Pit is finished by hand, slight variations in patina, texture and grain are natural and add to the unique character of each piece. Colour may also vary slightly between screens, all photography is taken in natural light.