What AI Can't Simulate

We believe authenticity shows.

Today, AI can generate images that closely resemble real photography, making the line between reality and generated imagery increasingly difficult to distinguish. With the right prompts and references, AI can produce images that feel convincing, polished, and visually impressive.

We know this because we’ve tested it ourselves.

We could take that shortcut.
We choose not to.

Not because the technology isn’t capable, but because authenticity still matters to us and because the way an object truly exists in space, interacts with light, and reveals itself over time cannot be convincingly fabricated.

Photographed on site in Topanga, California.

Why Real Work Still Matters

Every image and video we share reflects real products, real materials, and real craftsmanship. Not as a statement, but as a standard.

A fire feature does not exist in isolation. It interacts with architecture, landscape, atmosphere, and the people gathered around it. Light shifts. Flame responds to wind. Surfaces absorb, reflect, and emit warmth in ways that are never fixed or perfectly predictable.

The details matter. And they only reveal themselves when what is being shown is real.

Design asks for patience. So does honesty. Neither can be rushed without losing something essential.

On-site documentation of installed work at client properties in the Hamptons.

How Something Is Presented Reflects How It’s Made

We design, manufacture, and photograph our own work because how something is presented says a lot about how it’s made.

It’s easy to make something look perfect when it doesn’t have to exist. It’s much harder to document real objects, in real conditions, without controlling every variable. That difficulty is intentional.

What is shown is what is made, and what is made is what is shown—so expectations align with what ultimately arrives. When presentation and process are treated as separate, the gap eventually becomes visible in the work itself.

From casting to finishing to installation to photography, every step is handled with the same discipline. Shortcuts in presentation often signal shortcuts elsewhere, and those choices always surface in the final product.

Accuracy Is a Design Choice

Representation carries responsibility, especially when the work is defined by proportion, geometry, and material presence.

When we photograph our work, we do so with the same care used in designing it. Our primary imagery is captured using tilt-shift lenses to correct perspective and eliminate keystoning. Vertical lines remain vertical. Proportions remain true. The goal isn’t dramatization, it’s accuracy.

We want the work to read as your eye would experience it in real space, not distorted by lens angle or visual exaggeration.

These decisions are subtle, but their effect is not. When proportions are correct, the work feels grounded and calm. When they aren’t, something quietly feels unresolved even if the image appears polished at first glance.

Accuracy, like craft, is not always loud.
But it is always felt.

On-site documentation across a range of environments and conditions.

Light, Proportion, and Presence

One of the clearest differences between a real image and a generated one is how light behaves. In a photograph, flame emits light that interacts with material, surface, and space. It changes with wind, time of day, and surrounding conditions. The result is luminosity that feels active and dimensional rather than applied.

Generated imagery can approximate lighting with precision, but it does not operate within real physical constraints. Fire appears placed rather than luminous. Surfaces respond inconsistently. Proportion and scale may look plausible, but relationships often remain unresolved. Nothing appears obviously wrong but something feels incomplete.

This difference may be difficult to articulate, but it is immediately perceptible when you slow down and look closely. Human perception is remarkably sensitive to these inconsistencies, even when we can’t immediately name them. Presence is felt before it is understood.

“...The product truly lives up to the imagery we saw on social media and the quality of the burner is completely next level.”

— Matt R., Customer

Real Places as a Feedback Loop

Photography, for us, is not just documentation. It is part of the design process.

Being on site, watching how a piece settles into its surroundings, how flame behaves in shifting wind, how light moves across surfaces provides real-world feedback that no rendering can replace. These moments inform how we refine proportions, improve finishes, adjust burner placement, and evolve designs over time.

This is why we travel to real projects. Why we revisit installations. Why we work directly with architects, builders, and homeowners in environments that are experienced rather than staged.

Courtyards, coastlines, rooftops, and backyards all impose their own conditions. Light changes faster than planned. Wind shifts the flame. Surroundings resist perfection. Rather than eliminating these variables, we work within them—understanding they are part of the work itself.

On-site documentation across completed projects and environments.

A Deliberate Line

We are often asked when sharing imagery or video: Is this AI?

The answer is always no.

That is not a rejection of technology. AI has a place as a tool, something that can support or optimize established processes. But using it as a replacement for reality, especially to represent products defined by materiality and craftsmanship, is where we draw the line.

When something is presented as meticulously crafted, its representation should carry the same weight as the object itself. Generated imagery may look accurate, but it remains a substitute—one step removed from the work it claims to represent.

Too often, what arrives can never live up to what was shown, because what was shown never truly existed.

Transparency, precision, and trust are not abstract values.
They are visible, if you know where to look.

Photographed on site in St. George Utah, Skyfall House