If you’re gonna be a part of New York City’s international contemporary furniture fair (ICFF) then we urge you to go see the gorgeous ‘ascendance’ fireplace. This petrified wood fireplace is designed by metaplace industries. You have got to witness the beauty of this thing as it made in a very unique way. The creator Nick Wray has literally turned back the clock to create an object from a material that has been formed over millions of years, fusing something naturally occurring with a man-made design; the result of which is this awesomeness called ‘ascendance’. The result is achieved by a process called permineralization, which means over a period of time (many million years actually) the material transforms into stone as the tree’s original organic matter is replaced by minerals. So what you are left with is something that looks like wood but is like stone otherwise making it a great concept for a fireplace as it doesn’t burn.
Add to this aeon-old beauty the magic of today! below the trunk, a custom concrete base is constructed with a hollow core, which houses a low-voltage natural gas burner, controlled by remote control or Bluetooth compatibility. The specimen obtained to create ascendance comes from a low-land tropical tree species (dipterocarpaceae) indigenous to central Indonesia and is estimated to be roughly 22 million years old. As a way of giving back to Indonesia, 2% of the net profits from the sale will be donated to direct relief international, a nonprofit dedicated to helping Indonesian children in areas of extreme poverty.
[Via:Designboom]
