Malm 34 Zircon DV — A California Original
In 1960, a young Bay Area engineer named Carl Malm built a fireplace in his own living room and, finding nothing on the market quite like it, decided to put it into production. The shape he drew — a hand-formed steel cone, suspended over a circular firebox, finished in glass-hard porcelain enamel — is the shape Malm still makes today, sixty-six years on, out of a workshop in Santa Rosa, California. Few objects of any kind have aged this well.
The "DV" is direct-vent: sealed-combustion gas, drawing its combustion air from outside and exhausting back through the same coaxial pipe. Nothing is taken from the room.
Everything else about it is unchanged. The cone is still cold‑rolled steel, hand-formed in Santa Rosa. The finish is still kiln-fired porcelain enamel — the same coating you'd find on a vintage stove or a Le Creuset pot, hard as glass and good for the life of the building. The colour catalogue still runs deep: matte black, of course, but also Persimmon, Avocado, Pacific Blue, a true poppy red, a cream that looks like the inside of an eggshell. The 34 DV can disappear into a quiet wall or become the loudest object in the room. You decide.
Installation is, by Malm standards, refreshingly simple. The coaxial vent runs through an exterior wall or up through the roof; no masonry chimney is required, which makes it as workable in a 1962 rancher as it is in a 2026 build. Each one is made to order in California, in the colour and configuration you choose.
We show the Malm 34 Zircon DV in the Curated collection because it is one of the very few fireplaces that is also, plainly, a piece of furniture. It belongs in a Creative FireSpace™ that wants colour, character, and a clear point of view.
Made to order in Santa Rosa, California. Lead times are honest — these are hand-built objects, not warehouse stock — so speak with us early in your project and we'll plan the schedule together.
Sixty-six years of an iconic design, in a modern format.
Questions people tend to ask
Does it need a masonry chimney?
No — and that is what makes it so widely placeable. The "DV" is direct-vent: sealed-combustion gas that draws its combustion air from outside and exhausts back through the same coaxial pipe, so nothing is taken from the room. That pipe runs through an exterior wall or up through the roof, which makes the 34 DV as workable in a 1962 rancher as it is in a 2026 build.
What colours does it come in?
The catalogue still runs deep. Matte black, of course, but also Persimmon, Avocado, Pacific Blue, a true poppy red, and a cream that looks like the inside of an eggshell. It can disappear into a quiet wall or become the loudest object in the room — that part is your decision.
Will the finish last?
It is kiln-fired porcelain enamel — the same coating you would find on a vintage stove or a Le Creuset pot, hard as glass and good for the life of the building. The cone underneath it is cold-rolled steel, still hand-formed in Santa Rosa.
How long will I wait for one?
Longer than for warehouse stock, and honestly so. Each one is made to order in California in the colour and configuration you choose, because these are hand-built objects rather than boxes on a shelf. Speak with us early in your project and we will plan the schedule together rather than discovering it late.
Is it really the same design as the original?
Essentially unchanged. In 1960 a young Bay Area engineer named Carl Malm built a fireplace for his own living room, found nothing like it on the market, and put it into production — a hand-formed steel cone suspended over a circular firebox, finished in glass-hard porcelain enamel. Sixty-six years on, that is still the shape, still made in a workshop in Santa Rosa. Few objects of any kind have aged this well.
Is it a heater or an object?
Honestly, it is one of the very few fireplaces that is also, plainly, a piece of furniture — which is exactly why it is in this collection. It belongs in a room that wants colour, character and a clear point of view, and if what you need is maximum output for a large space, we will happily point you somewhere else on the floor.
A fireplace is only half of it. The other half is who places it.
Maxwell Fireplace is North Vancouver’s Creative FireSpaces™ — and we stay involved in every part of the job. The fireplace itself is ours from the first conversation to the final flame: design and placement, permitting, delivery, installation, and the care that comes after. When the work runs to a surround, a mantel, tile or millwork, we plan it with the trades doing it — yours, or ones we bring in — so the fire and the wall are drawn as one thing rather than two. One point of contact, and nothing lost in the gap between trades.
It’s exactly why a Malm belongs with us. A fireplace that is also a piece of furniture has to be sited like one — the coaxial vent run settled early, the colour chosen against the room rather than off a swatch, the clearances honoured without hemming it in — and that is the difference between an appliance and a centrepiece. We serve homeowners and contractors across Greater Vancouver, the North Shore, and the Sea to Sky Corridor — Squamish to Whistler and Pemberton — and we’d love to show you what’s possible for your room.