A steel wood-burning stove is a closed-firebox heating appliance shaped from sheet steel. Steel lends itself equally well to organic and geometric forms. It is the material of choice for Focus, the French brand of fireplaces and designer stoves, founded in 1968 by the artist and sculptor Dominique Imbert. Focus wood-burning stoves meet Ecodesign energy and environmental performance requirements and are made in France, in the Focus metalworks.
BATHYSCAFOCUS GAS Central model on a base
GRAPPUS WOOD Central stove on a base
Filiofocus 1600 bioethanol Central model on a base
ERGOFOCUS HOLOGRAPHIK® Central suspended pivoting model
SLIMFOCUS GAS ON BASE Central stove on a base
FILIOFOCUS 2000 gas Central model on a base
BATHYSCAFOCUS wood porthole Central suspended pivoting stove
MEIJIFOCUS GAS Central model on a base
Ergofocus bioethanol Central suspended pivoting model
EDOFOCUS WOOD ON BASE Wall-mounted stove on a base
SLIMFOCUS WOOD Central suspended stove pivoting or fixed stove
EDOFOCUS WOOD RO Wall-mounted stove (Rear Outlet)
Domofocus bioethanol Central suspended pivoting model
FILIOFOCUS 1600 GAS Central model on a base
Ergofocus Gas Central suspended pivoting model
ERGOFOCUS WOOD GLAZED Central suspended pivoting stove
MAGMAFOCUS GAS Central model on a base
SLIMFOCUS WALL-MOUNTED Wall-mounted suspended stove
BATHYSCAFOCUS WOOD Central suspended pivoting model
SLIMFOCUS WOOD ON BASE Central stove on a base
DOMOFOCUS WOOD GLAZED Central suspended pivoting stove
Gyrofocus bioethanol Central suspended pivoting model
EDOFOCUS DV Wall-mounted suspended stove (Vertical Outlet)
AGORAFOCUS WOOD Central suspended stove
GYROFOCUS WOOD GLAZED Central suspended pivoting stove
CURVIFOCUS GAS Central stove on a base
EMIFOCUS WOOD PORTHOLE Wall-mounted stove (Rear Outlet)
Bathyscafocus Holographik® Central suspended pivoting model
EUROFOCUS WOOD Central stove on a base
Boafocus gas Central stove on a base
Gyrofocus Gaz Central suspended pivoting model
Focus wood-burning stoves are made of steel because their creator, the artist Dominique Imbert, had a passion for metal, which he forged and welded. A former literature teacher in Paris, he left teaching to settle in Viols-le-Fort, at the foot of the Cévennes in southern France, and devote himself to sculpture. During the harsh winter of 1967, he forged his first fireplace from scraps of metal to heat the ruin he was restoring, and so the Antéfocus was born. In 1968, he created the Gyrofocus, the first suspended fireplace that can be swivelled through 360°. Dominique Imbert never attended design school: he designed his models by working directly with the material.
Steel makes it possible to give Focus wood-burning stoves very different forms: the curves of the Domofocus, the sphere of the Bathyscafocus, the flat design of the Eurofocus. This diversity comes from the ductility of steel, which can be shaped without breaking. It also allows for a range of sizes: 33 cm in diameter for the Slimfocus, 95 cm for the Ergofocus, 1.25 m for the Gyrofocus. From 1968 to 2017, from the Gyrofocus to the Boafocus, Dominique Imbert designed around a hundred steel models. Today, some twenty designs feature in the Focus catalogue; they comply with current regulations and are available, depending on the model, in wood-burning, gas, bioethanol or electric versions.
In the Focus metalworks, making a steel wood-burning stove involves cutting, forming, machining, welding, sanding, painting and assembly. The glazed Gyrofocus, for example, is made up of 282 parts. Most are shaped on site. The smallest are laser-cut. The steel sheets are formed by bending, rolling or metal spinning: they take shape, from flat to volume. Machining, by tapping and milling, prepares the parts for assembly. The sheet-metal craftsmen then weld, sand and polish the steel until the welds are invisible. ‘Nothing replaces the expertise of the hand and the eye,’ says Sophie Kirnidis, director of the Focus metalworks since 2024.
Focus wood-burning stoves are made in Cavaillon, in Provence, in the Focus metalworks, which grew out of a sheet-metal workshop founded in 1892. A major player in French industrial sheet-metal work after the Second World War, the site produced gas cylinders, tanks and vats for industry, the chemical sector and winemaking, and employed as many as 250 people. As early as the 1970s, Dominique Imbert entrusted it with the manufacture of the Gyrofocus. In 1993, Focus bought the then-declining site to preserve its jobs and its savoir-faire.
Today, the metalworks produces the entire Focus collection in 8,000 m² of workshops. In 2014, it set up a design office and a research and development department to anticipate Ecodesign requirements. In 2023, it was awarded the ‘Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant’ (Living Heritage Enterprise) label, a French State distinction recognising excellence in craftsmanship, held by 1,300 companies in France.
All ten wood-burning stoves in the Focus collection are made of steel, in every version:
Created in 2011 with the designer Thibault Desombre, the Grappus is the first model for which Dominique Imbert entrusted the design to someone else. This stove is made from the same steel and in the same metalworks as the other Focus models. It won the Red Dot Award in 2014.
Focus wood-burning stoves come in matt black, the only finish in the wood heating collection. This choice stems from the Focus identity and from Dominique Imbert’s artistic approach: steel can easily be painted in any colour, but matt black won out. It echoes the stance of the painter Pierre Soulages, who made black the heart of his work. On a steel stove, matt black absorbs light rather than reflecting it. It highlights the stove’s form and brings out the flame.
