Crafting innovative fireplaces since 2002.

Life is better around a fireplace.

Founded in the deep south of New Zealand in 2002, Escea began with a simple idea: to create a gas fireplace as efficient as it was beautiful.

Today we craft gas, wood, and electric fireplaces for homes around the world – and that founding idea still drives us every day. We continue to blend form and function in everything we do. Innovation runs deep, craftsmanship comes naturally, and aesthetics and performance go hand in hand.

Always guided by our purpose to put a better fireplace at the heart of every home – because life is better around a fireplace.

Beautiful
Warmth

Every Escea fireplace is crafted to look beautiful and perform exceptionally – always with purpose and the end customer in mind. We call this Beautiful Warmth, and it’s a philosophy that underpins everything we do.

Innovating an Industry

We’re driven to enhance everyday life through relentless innovation and constant refinement – an approach that challenges convention and grounded in the belief that better is always possible.

Any Space,
Every Lifestyle

While many homes may look alike, no two people live the same. That’s why Escea offers a range designed to reflect different needs, spaces, lifestyle and locations – all delivering that same promise of Beautiful Warmth.

1986

Young child in shorts and socks holding a soccer ball and standing next to a large dark dog on a leash outside a house.

Burning Ambition

“As a kid, some of my best childhood moments were around the living room fire, and ever since I’ve had a passion for fireplaces. I worked as an engineer for fireplaces, a retailer of fireplaces, all working towards my goal of listening, learning, and one day creating my own."

Nigel Bamford,
Founder

2002

Close-up of flames burning inside a fireplace with a glass front.

The ‘No Compromise’ Gas Fireplace

After teaming up with Alan McGregor and Garth Milmine to start Escea, we looked at what was already in the market. Gas fireplaces would either look great, or heat your home, but nobody was doing both. We set out to change that.

Nigel Bamford,
Founder

2007

Smiling man wearing sunglasses and a cap, kayaking on calm water near rocky shores, waving at the camera.

First Danish Interns

"My internship at Escea was amazing. The four of us came from Odense university in Denmark to spend seven months working at Escea during the week, and exploring the South Island during the weekends. We totally paved the way for the next decade of Escea Danish interns!"

Michael Nygard,
Danish Engineering Intern

2009

Warehouse interior with tall stacks of various sized cardboard boxes and pallets arranged on shelves and the floor.

New Digs

"We were outgrowing our fireplace factory, an old car painting warehouse, and decided to make the leap into a purpose-built building five times larger. Having a blank canvas to implement our new Lean Manufacturing strategy was exciting, and has allowed for us to keep growing."

Mark Davie,
Production Engineering Manager

2010

Person using a smartphone app to control a heater with options for flame effect, fan boost, and setting temperature to 20 degrees.

SmartHeat

As iphones and apps became bigger we realised we needed to upgrade our phone remote system. We created the Smartheat app, expecting people to use it to turn their fires on before they got home. But for those that use it the app has pretty much replaced their remote altogether."

Dave Olsen,
Senior Engineer

2010

Pushing Boundaries

"We work a lot with architects, and when someone asks us for something we can’t do, Nigel doesn’t like to say no! They wanted flueing that could go up, down and sideways, so we did it - and now it’s in all of our gas fireplaces."

Alan McGregor,
Production Engineer & Founder

2018

Close-up of popcorn popping inside an oven with flames visible.

Grill, Then Chill

"We noticed more and more customers were looking for ways to expand their indoor living spaces and kitchens. So over a glass of red wine and good food, Nigel and a friend were brokering the idea of an outdoor fire experience combined with a high-quality cooking appliance – that’s exactly how the EK Series was born."

Alan McGregor,
Production Engineer & Founder

2019

Modern living room with a sleek rectangular fireplace set below wood-paneled wall and a black round coffee table with books and cups.

Bigger, Better

"The DS Series was fast becoming our most popular fireplaces. We had just released the DS1650 which was our widest fire at the time, but we thought ‘why not go bigger?’ We’re always pushing boundaries, so a fire at nearly 2m long seemed like the natural next step for us! The DS1900 is now our biggest indoor fire and has already got us thinking ‘what’s next?’"

Aaron Porter,
Design Engineer

2020

Expand to Grow

"After years of planning and talking about growth, we knew it was time to take the next step. Our expanding product range and growing team meant that we needed a larger facility and we needed it now. So, despite the challenges of a global pandemic we expanded our office and factory space by a massive 30%. With state-of-the-art equipment and more and more talented team members joining by the day. We had 125 staff and counting…"

Donna Sherrif,
Chief Operating Officer

2021

Two young girls, one holding flowers, looking inside a metal container together.

Fire For Life

"Fire for Life was a no-brainer for us, it very much became a core part of our quest to put a better fireplace in every home. I felt we had a responsibility to use our unique skills and experience to improve the lives of these people who only had an open fire to cook on, and so after several years of development, we finally sent the first batch of stoves to Syria in January of 2021"

Nigel Bamford,
Founder

2022

Close-up of a modern black wood-burning stove with visible flames inside.

New Challenges

"We took everything we’d learned from designing high-performing gas fireplaces and poured it into creating our first Escea wood fire. Building it right here in our Dunedin facility, with the help of our first robotic welder, was a big moment for us. Wood fires bring their own set of challenges, but we weren’t willing to compromise on looks or performance—and we didn’t."

James Fisher,
Chief Innovation Officer

2024

Group of people dressed in business attire networking and socialising indoors at an event or conference.

Electric Atmosphere

“Our first-ever Escea Fireplace Gala was something special. After the challenges that the pandemic brought, bringing together our team, suppliers, and retailers from across Australasia felt like a real milestone. It was the first time we’d all been in one place for a long time, and hosting it at the Escea factory made it even more meaningful. Launching our first holographic electric fireplace that night was the perfect way to celebrate how far we’d come."

Nigel Bamford,
Founder

2026

From Dunedin, to the World

"Nobody expects a fireplace brand from Dunedin to show up in downtown Chicago or Paris with a state-of-the-art mobile showroom – but that's exactly what we did. Watching people experience Escea electric for the first time, thousands of miles from where it was made, never gets old."

Tom Drury,
Chief Marketing Officer

Born in New Zealand

Our place at the edge of the world, surrounded by rugged landscapes and far from convention, shaped our perspective from the very beginning. It taught us to think differently and design without compromise.

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