YOUR OPEN FIRE GRATE & FIREPLACE HOOD, HAND MADE WITH PASSION
In this age, anyone still earning their crust hand forging steel, in a jobbing foundry, or forming sheet metal by hand is in itself a sign of the passion these people have for what they do. We’re not talking hand based repetitive production – this is genuine handmade creation where every job is different and therefore requires thought, patience and experience to realise the end result.
The passion Trevor Shaw had to start Camelot Real Fires was born from his desire to have a open fire grate with open fireplace canopy in his Inglenook – not gas or electric as was so popular in the 1970’s. That passion still burns strongly today in the way Paul Shaw, Trevor’s son, now runs the business creating fire baskets and fireplace hoods for our clients.
Personal attention
Paul is involved in every fire we make in detail. He’s the main contact for all our customer conversations and he designs everything Camelot creates for our customers. He also carries out all our show survey visits in person.
Paul takes personal responsibility for each piece that leaves our workshop. Camelot craftsmen make & hand finish our open fire grates, open fireplace canopies and Thermovents. All this means we knows every inch of every fire we create, in person, and the original aspiration each customer had for their fire.
MADE HAND BY HAND FOR EACH CUSTOMER
The skills and techniques we still use today were developed before and during the industrial revolution. They were often practiced in small local businesses and the knowledge was developed and handed down from generation to generation using the apprentice system.
All our fires are hand made by craftsmen in Worcestershire, in the UK.
HAND FORGING STEEL
We hand forge many of our dog irons and open fire grate designs from raw iron bars – not mass produced components welded together.
Blacksmith and forge work was the foundation of the industrial revolution in the UK, but today it’s a rare craft that’s mainly preserved in a narrow form with farriers, but also artisan blacksmiths and a few commercial Blacksmiths. And at Camelot Real Fires!
WE’RE HERE TO HELP WITH ANY OPEN FIREPLACE HOOD!
Call us on 01905 820181
We love to talk open fires.
HAND CASTING IRON, BRASS OR BRONZE
We use casting to make some dog irons, fire grate fronts and finials. The three parts to casting are pattern making, casting and finishing.
At Camelot we understand the pattern making so we often make these ourselves to designs agreed with the customer.
We use a range of jobbing foundries in the Black Country, the heartland of the industrial revolution, for our castings. We often do the finishing work ourselves also.
HAND FORMING AND WORKING SHEET STEEL, COPPER OR BRASS
If you’ve seen a few canopies you may have seen how varied they are in terms of appearance and construction. They range from almost agricultural, through fabricated, to designer. Trevor Shaw decided right from the start that using heavy gauge steel to allow welded joints would not allow the flexibility in shape that he felt was so important in a canopy. That’s why we use traditional panel beating skills to form our canopys from the thinner gauge materials using hand rolled seams and rivet joins in the main.
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY
Absolutely wonderful!
“The fire has been absolutely wonderful and has transformed our home.”
Tony, Suffolk, September 2017.
INNOVATION – THERMOVENT CONVECTING OPEN FIRE
Paul and Trevor are determined to preserve the tradition of making genuine open fires using original techniques and materials. The style of our Thermovent open fire builds on similar fires from the 18th Century but with ingenious enhancements to deliver significantly enhanced open fire performance.
We also believe in harnessing new technology in terms of materials, processes and design where it improves quality and creates new opportunities for our customers.
Innovations you can see over the last 10 years have been:
– The re-design of the second generation Thermovent convector fire in 2011 to achieve greater efficiency and output.
– The Twin Skin canopy to create effective protections against smoke and accommodate any size or shape fire with ease.
– Introduction of latest cutting and folding technology for heavy steel plate as the foundation of our hand assembly and finishing with Thermovents and some more unusual open fire grates. With Thermovent this gives us the consistency of quality and efficiency required to create beautiful and reliable fires. For Thermovent and many other items we create, the innovative use of this technology preserves our ability to produce each piece by hand to order.
INNOVATION – THERMOVENT CONVECTING OPEN FIRE
Paul and Trevor are determined to preserve the tradition of making genuine open fires using original techniques and materials. The style of our Thermovent open fire builds on similar 18th Century styles but with ingenious enhancements to deliver efficient open fire performance.
We also believe in harnessing new technology in terms of materials, processes and designs that improves quality and creates new opportunities for our customers. Innovations you can see over the last 10 years have been:
– The re-design of the second generation Thermovent convector fire in 2011 to achieve CE mark accreditation.
– The Twin Skin canopy to create effective protections against smoke and accommodate any size or shape fire with ease.
– Introduction of latest cutting and folding technology for heavy steel plate as the foundation of our hand assembly and finishing with Thermovents and unusual open fire grates. With Thermovent this gives us the consistency of quality required to achieve CE mark approval. The innovative use of this technology preserves our ability to produce each piece by hand to order.
INNOVATION – TWIN SKIN CANOPY
Our Twin Skin open fireplace canopy design is unique to Camelot. Our design removes the restrictions upon a normal fireplace hood as it separates the performance from the aesthetic of the canopy (or hood as they are sometimes called). This means many fires that could not practically be made to work before now can be used with confidence – especially in Inglenook fireplaces.
Our design provides the next evolution of the traditional canopy whilst meeting your vision every time. Our truly innovative Twin Skin is essentially a carefully specified twin set of canopies that combine together to act as one to ensure the smoke from the fire is extracted from the room whilst allowing for a great looking canopy even on the smallest permissible chimney size.
The Inner Canopy or hood is sized to match the chimney system that is installed underneath. It cannot be seen from the outside so you wont even know its there except for the fact that smoke goes where it should – up the chimney.
We are then free to design and size the outer canopy (that you see from the room) so it looks great in the fireplace its set within even in the largest Inglenook open fireplaces. It really is a breakthrough in canopy design and is unique to Camelot.
INNOVATION – TWIN SKIN CANOPY
Our Twin Skin open fireplace canopy design is unique to Camelot. Our design removes the restrictions upon a normal fireplace hood as it separates the performance from the aesthetic of the canopy/hood.
Our design provides the next evolution of the traditional canopy whilst meeting your vision every time. Our truly innovative Twin Skin is essentially a carefully specified twin set of canopies that combine together to act as one to ensure the smoke from the fire is extracted from the room whilst allowing for a great looking canopy even on the smallest permissible chimney size.
The Inner Canopy or hood is sized to match the chimney system that is installed underneath. It cannot be seen from the outside so you wont even know its there.We are then free to design and size the visible outer canopy so it looks great in the even in the largest Inglenook open fireplaces. It really is a breakthrough in canopy design and is unique to Camelot.
WE’RE HERE TO HELP WITH ANY OPEN FIREPLACE HOOD!
Call us on 01905 820181
We love to talk open fires.
OPEN FIRE GRATES, CANOPIES AND DOG IRONS BEING CREATED
