The Pot of Fire: Summer Grill Extraordinaire

someone's been watching the Wondertwins; how to fit Gleek into this...?

"...conventional grilling isn't exactly the healthiest thing to do, but since most of us are going to do it anyway this summer, we might as well do it in style. "
Dirving isn't the healtiest thing to do either, but does that mean we should do it in style? Isn't that the kind of thinking that got us into this mess? Why do I need style while I grill? Why do I need style while I drive?
Pretty soon style is going out the window with all the house forclosures and the dollar fall and peak oil, so does that mean we should ignore the facts and do____in style?

I see your point, Jim Robb, but on the other hand, at least the grills are upcycled from used propane tanks. Still a little pricey at $75 though, especially since the tanks were most likely acquired for next to nothing...

Well said Jim!

This is exactly what makes me love this country and makes me crazy at the same time. Free speech - the freedom to say exactly what we think. No, not the grill, but the anti-style discussion. Lighten up a tad. This guy is recycling old scrap steel into something fun. To say that we should grill in style was nothing more than a lead-in to the cool grill description. Not everything in life is evil and not everything stylish and fun is horrible for our health and horrible for the planet. Kudos to the grill for turning trash into a useful and enjoyable product that can bring value to our lives (albeit in a small and self-satisfying way).

I'm with Smith on this one - being ecologically resposible doesn't mean you're not allowed to have fun anymore.

G

Wanna make flipping things on the grill a nightmare. Add a steel fence around your grill top.

Looks cool can't imagine it would be very pratical.

I agree with the penguin...there'd be burned hands and burgers(veggie to be sure)before you could get a spatula to the rescue

Though the metal "flames" might make perfect shishkabob skewer holders...

Jim and OverMatt: I'm not surprised to see some treehugger readers taking a hard line with this, but I believe that if we really want to improve, change or save the world we have to do it in a way that has at least some appeal… I make my entire living by creating things, so I work primarily with recycled or re-used materials. This is the best way I know to minimize my impact on natural resources, climate and the environment. In addition, I feel that creative re-use has the potential to spark new ways of looking at the world… if one thing can be turned into another, what else can we change? Successful recycled art and design encourages creativity in others— it’s alchemical, magical, subversive, and transformative by nature. I feel that only be a good thing.

My creative mandate is “sustainable design with an edge.” Just because we’re good doesn’t mean we have to be boring, right? If there's no room for fun in the world after we save it, then what was the point?

MikeH: I don't feel that the grills are pricey. I understand that it might seem that working with recycled content means that there isn't much cost to doing business, but that's really not the case.

You have to realize that whenever an artist sells their work through a store or gallery they take an immediate 50% hit on the price. So really, in most cases I'm only making $40… From that, you need to subtract the cost of materials, the cost of shop upkeep and maintenance, consumables such as plasma cutter tips, sandblasting, grinders, etc. I bet you'd be pretty shocked at what my overhead amounts to if I were to disclose the figures. It's certainly no cheaper for me to run an art studio than it is for a mechanic or any other small manufacturing business to keep their doors open. In fact, it's often more expensive as I'm not buying things in enough volume to qualify for any discounts. Also, to be honest, I think it takes a lot more time and effort to learn enough to run a successful art business than it does to become a mechanic.

So, as with all art, or in fact anything made in the US, the price reflects what I need to make to stay in business. Sure, I could refuse to sell through galleries and cut the price in half, but I can't do enough volume on my own to make that sustainable as a business model. And I don't begrudge them their cut… they work for it, and they have overhead to meet also.

Fortunately, many people do understand that my prices are fair, which allows me to continue doing the thing I'm best at and paying the bills.

Actually, let me put that another, less personal way… pretty much *all* environmentally sound products are more expensive than those that aren't. Again, it really boils down to the fact that when you operate in a small niche market, the costs of doing business are much higher.

The only way to make stuff really affordable for everyone seems to be to cut corners on quality, durability, environmental impact, etc. It seems really weird to me that I can buy a steel chair that came from China for *less* money than it would cost me to buy the steel to make an identical chair. But that is actually the case. The raw steel currently costs more than the chair.

Don't get me wrong, good design can have style, but I was responding to the particular use of the word. I believe in Form-follows-function. If the use of materials and design result in somthing pleasing to the eye AND functional, then that is great. But the functionality should be addressed first: Personnaly I think I would slam my shin into the sharp cornes of the grill about 3 times before I would either grind them off or pitch the thing.