Fire Farm Peace Poles, an Ocean Apart

In 1846, one of the founders of the little town where Fire Farm is located decided to name the new settlement on the banks of the Turkey River in honor of an Algerian hero who had led his country's resistance to a French invasion. The hero was the Emir Abd El Kader, and the Iowa city name for him is still known as Elkader.

In the 1980s, a Sister City relationship between Elkader and Mascara, Algeria, the emir's birthplace, was formed. Recently, Fire Farm's Adam Pollock designed and produced twin peace poles inscribed with the Sister City's motto "May Peace Prevail" in English, French, and Arabic for display in parks in Elkader and Mascara. Both poles were given by Pollock as symbols of the commitment to peace which links the two cities.

The Elkader peace pole was presented in the presence of the Algerian ambassador as part of a rededication of an Elkader park named for the emir's birthplace. The pole's twin was shipped in Mascara, and Pollock recently received pictures of it in place in a park there. Accompanying the pictures was a letter from the mayor of Mascara expressing his city's friendship, continuing belief in the ideals of the Sister Cities' movement, and gratitude for Pollock's gift.

See more images of the peace pole here: Peace Pole 2482 Project Page



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Introducing Rosebud 3249 Pendant!

Introducing the brand-new Rosebud 3249 pendant!

Hand-formed from white acrylic, three layers of organic petals softly envelope a white globe encasing the lamping. Originally designed fro a client searching for "timeless contemporary elegance," this beautiful rosebud pendant delivers just that.

Designed by: Jim Walch, Adam Jackson Pollock and the Fire Farm Staff

Custom acrylic colors available
Dimensions: approx. 30"D x 30"H
Lamping: 1 x 32w CFL or 1 x 150w Type A Incandescent
On-site adjustable cord suspension
UL Listed
Made in USA



Go to Project Page here.

Download press release here.


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Winter Rosebud

About time for another sneak peek, yes?

More info to come, but for now, here's a glimpse at the latest bloom in our Fire Farm bouquet.

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Sock-delier!

This chandelier was custom made for a national specialty clothing purveyor, designed to be able to change and display new sock designs regularly at the corporate headquarters. The best part? A small tap brings all the feet to life, kicking merrily away.



Click here to go the Project 3146 page for more info.

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Twinkle Twinkle

Constellation Series 2913

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Constellation Sensation

Last week we gave you a sneak peek of our upcoming Constellation series, but as gorgeous as still images of these pieces are, it's nothing compared to the effect of walking around them.

So, we walked around them for you! Here's a video shot last week (we were shooting stars... heh heh heh) to show the fantastic color changes of the dichroic diffusers as you move around the fixture. Incredible, right?



Constellation Series

Available in:
3ft, 6ft, 9ft, and 12ft approximate diameters
Black, white, or stainless steel perforated metal points
White or color-changing dichroic diffusing petals
Incandescent or fluorescent lamping

Click here to visit the Project 2913 page.

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Project 2097: Weaving the Past with the Present, part 2

Weaving the Past with the Present
(This is the second of a two-part blog highlighting Project 2097)

The First Unitarian Society of Madison, Wisconsin, commissioned Fire Farm to do the lighting for the new addition to their Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Meeting House, and to update the lighting in the original historic structure.

One important element of the job was that the original copper roofing off the Wright structure was to be recycled into the new light fixtures.

Years earlier Mrs. Wright, along with volunteers from the Society, had hand-woven 120 feet of curtain on the looms at Taliesin to be used in the original Meeting House. Symbolically “Weaving the Past with the Present,” bridging the old structure with the new, and with a nod to the historic work of Mrs. Wright and the congregational volunteers, Fire Farm utilized this recycled copper in a functional, yet uniquely sculptural way.

The material was sheared into linear strips of various widths and loosely woven into rectangular panels for wall sconces. The exterior surfaces with green patina were alternated with the raw copper surfaces of the under sides, symbolizing the weaving of the new with the old. Each piece was individually handwoven by Fire Farm's Howard Mayer into a different pattern so no two would be the same.

Light was allowed to filter through the cracks in the face and spill out behind and around the fixtures creating a halo effect. The bright copper picks up ambient light in the room and reflects it warmly back while the natural patina adds a character only possible from 50 years of exposure to nature.

Click here to visit the Product page.

Jim Walch of Fire Farm

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Project 2097: Weaving the Past with the Present, part 1

Weaving the Past with the Present
(This is the first of a two-part blog highlighting Project 2097)

The First Unitarian Society of Madison, Wisconsin, commissioned Fire Farm to do the lighting for the new addition to their Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Meeting House, and to update the lighting in the original historic structure. Earlier this year, the Fire Farm crew took a field trip to see the fruition of their labor.

Upon arrival we immediately knew that we had been part of something truly special. Over a half century earlier an icon of American Architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, had designed what is now considered one of the prime examples of Twentieth Century Architecture.

After an extensive tour of the Historic Meeting House, in a physically seamless, but aesthetically distinct transition we were led into the new addition. With only a slight elevation on the landscape of Wright’s structure, one is awestruck as the corridor opens into a cavernous space. Where Wright’s structure soars upward, the new addition hosts an environmentally friendly flat membrane roof with vegetation reaching out and away. Wright’s structure was conceptualized using T-square and drawing board, the new addition with CAD and computer.

Video courtesy of FUS Madison

Kubala Washatko Architects of Cedarburg, WI., with lead architect Vince Micha very cleverly integrated the new structure into the landscape in a way that is both complementary and deferential to the historic structure. The new construction, executed by the craftsmen of J.H. Findorff and Sons, Inc., has received a LEED Gold Rating from the US Green Building Council, as well as the 2009 SE2 Merit Award from the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance, and the 2009 Sensitive Addition to a Historic Structure Award from the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation.

The attention given to every detail by The Society was inspiring. It was a wonderful opportunity to see our work in its final home. Very often we work from afar and are specified in a way that separates us from a comprehensive vision of the project. This project allowed us to work closely with the architects from the very early stages of development, leading to an evolution of design that was uniquely suited to its environment. Luckily the Madison church was within a few hours of our studio which allowed us to all visit our work in its permanent home, providing a satisfying closure to the project.

Custom fixtures designed for the First Unitarian Society of Madison:

                                                                                Click here to go to Product page

Click here to go to Product page                        Click here to go to Product page

Jim Walch of Fire Farm

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LED Solutions

Recently we were involved in a project constructed of perforated stainless steel sheet metal folded into a rectangle-shaped form to wrap around a column. The perforated metal was selected to create a transparent sheer effect around a core white acrylic box. The acrylic core was to be lit using fluorescent tube T5 lamps, selected for their even illumination and energy efficiency.

In production we thought we had addressed the challenge that the fixed length of the T5 lamps represented by incorporating an adjustable sliding fixture that would allow us to overlap two bulbs to exactly the right length to fill each of the segments perfectly.

This worked out to be an effective solution and would have been successful if we hadn't been working with such tight tolerances on the core acrylic box. The narrow width of the core box meant that the off-set fluorescent tubes were located an unequal distance from the edge of the box. This generated a long linear "hotspot" half the length of the fixture (see photo below). 

Two more inches in width of the acrylic box would have resolved this inequity by providing enough distance for the light to even out before it came into contact with the acrylic diffuser. With a ship date mere days away we had to figure out rather quickly how to overcome this optical challenge.

Our solution came in the shape of LED light strips. LED light strips are relatively new to the market and still significantly more expensive per watt than equivalent fluorescent solutions, but in the right application they can be a real asset.

This was a perfect situation to deploy this newer technology and the result was uniform light within a very narrow space. We were able to correct for some of the 'coolness' of the LED light by adding a very thin mylar diffuser which added just enough warmth to bring the LEDs into a more pleasantly-perceived color range.

Sometimes last minute surprises can be extremely frustrating, but we seem to always find new solutions in the challenges they bring. The final product was quite mesmerizing as you walked around it. The perforated metal shimmered as the overlapping planes of holes created ever-changing moire patterns. Click here to go to the Custom Project page.

Jim Walch of Fire Farm

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Parnassus by Seasons

The Parnassus outdoor sculpture incorporates solar cells, rechargeable batteries and LEDs with fine metal cloth mesh, capturing solar energy by day so that it can shine into the night. Over time, the untreated mesh takes on a natural patina that well suits the surrounding rural environment.

The above sequence of images was taken over the span of a year.

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Rose Light Transition

This video shows the transition between the fluorescent perimeter cove lighting and halogen down-spot lighting on Fire Farm's Project 2204.

Click here to go to the project page.