The Elmwood Fire Pit, 3mm Rust Steel Bowl 80cm

Eighty centimetres of open fire, and the whole table comes outside.

The Elmwood is the larger of our two fire bowls, a broad shallow dish in 3 mm fabricated steel with a fine rolled rim, sitting on a plain cylindrical drum base and finished in a natural rust patina. It measures 80cm across and 26cm tall, and it weighs 16 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.

Wide and low is the point. At 80cm the fire spreads rather than towers, so the heat reaches a full circle of chairs instead of a couple of people leaning in. It lives outdoors permanently, and the rust is the finish rather than a fault, so 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 80cm span, a wide low fire that warms a full ring of chairs rather than just the two closest to it
• ◆The weight, 16 kg empty, so it stays exactly where you set it
• ◆The rolled rim, a clean folded edge around the whole dish, which is what stops a large shallow bowl from flexing

How to style it

This one is big enough to be the centre of the space, so give it room and let it earn the position.

• Allow a metre and a half of clear ground around it, then set six chairs to that circle
• Stone, pavers or gravel underneath, not timber decking or dry grass
• Keep the surrounding planting low so the fire is the tallest thing in the space
• Group it with the rest of our garden and outdoor range for one weathered palette

Care & Keeping

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

Because The Elmwood 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.