Interview with Beijko van Melick of Kalfire

We prototyped the hologram fireplace and refined it until we were ready to show it to a consumer panel. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Most people were convinced it was a gas fireplace, that's how lifelike the experience was. We launched the E-one in 2020 and the dealers were thrilled. We are reaching a large new target group with the E-one. People in apartments, or for example in other houses where there is no gas connection. The need for a sustainable fireplace has also become much higher in recent years, because the use of gas and wood is under pressure.

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The collaboration with Spark has always been very good and powerful. We are really a team together. It's great that they are just as passionate about sustainability as we are. They brought in a lot of electronics knowledge for the development of the E-one, because we didn't have it at the time.

In addition, Spark is able to develop a product in a very short time, which we can test for feasibility. This greatly shortens our time-to-market and gives us a big advantage over competitors. The speed has also resulted in cost savings.

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Spark also contributes with regard to patents. We brainstormed a lot about how we can best design the patents. And Spark suggested the patent office with which we now have a good partnership. Now that we also want to enter the American market, we are working with Spark on the approval of the American version of the E-one. This broadens our market enormously. We are fully committed to holographic fire. 40% of our showroom is filled with different versions of the Kalfire E-one. Kalfire is now future proof.”