A great friend of mine, Ian Graham-Parker and I have always been completely enthralled by the idea of sitting around a fire, chatting, braaiing, having a few drinks and enjoying the atmosphere created by the life of the fire. This atmosphere was always enjoyed by all of our friends and families through many birthday parties, Halloween parties, Christmas parties and any other excuse we could think of. We are by no means unique in the enjoyment of this South African tradition, but it seemed we were the only ones who became frustrated at the restrictions of most traditional braai/fire facilities available on the market. The braai/fireplaces are either too small to hold any significant logs or they are not able to take wood at all; they are flimsy and fragile; they are designed for simply cooking food as opposed to creating the atmosphere we believe is the greatest part of outdoor braaiing in South Africa; and built-in braais allow people to stand on only one side of the fire. Any braais which were suitable for creating the fires/braais that we enjoyed were “maak-a-plan” barrel braais which are effective, yet hideous and not necessarily a feature anyone wants standing in their garden.

In November 2004, Ian asked me to manufacture some sort of 3-legged shallow dish to use for braaiing over the summer. It needed to stand securely on the grass, at a height which wouldn’t burn the grass, yet would generate a nice spread of heat from your toes to your head. It needed to be able to hold large logs and burn for hours while everyone sat around. After all, when the fire goes out, the guests generally leave…

Being in the manufacturing industry, with access to welders, engineers, painting, etc., I set out to see what I could come up with. I looked at various ways of creating a shallow dish, none of which were easy, affordable or aesthetically pleasing. At the time, I was working with laser cutting and plate bending, and so my mind drifted in that direction, the end result being the unique Fatboy wok. To spray-paint it, I found some chain lying around and hung the dish in the tree … I was unable to excavate and transport the tree on which to hang the wok, so I created a simple 3-legged stand with a bent neck to hang the chains on. It has since evolved in quality, shape, materials, etc., but that was how the concept came to be. When I delivered this free-standing, hanging fireplace to Ian at the local pub, he fell off his chair and the idea of producing them was born.

As for the name, for over 18 years, Ian and I have referred to each other as Fatboy. I have no idea why, but this has just stuck. So, at the inception of this new fireplace, which everyone agreed was ideal for the kinds of fires that Ian and I build, it was immediately referred to as the FATBOY FIRE. At that stage, neither Ian nor I were in any position financially to pursue it properly, so we manufactured them at home in our spare time and sold them on the side of the road. Both our corporate lives advanced, and time became a problem too. We were forced to stop making them from 2005 to 2011. By late 2011, I was in a position where I was able to inject some money into the concept, and so we have been able to place the company in a position where we have created great interest in the market, a well packaged high quality product, adequate stock levels and the platform from where we are able to launch the business.

This IS the ultimate South African fireplace & braai.