My fascination with European-style architecture includes every detail that makes this genre of design so unique–the shed roof, an occasional turret, the timber lintels, a surprising garden or courtyard. In the past few years, I’ve especially focused on the chimney pot, a 13th century European invention created to draw smoke from the fireplace flue. The added height removed harmful fumes and soot from homes where fireplaces gave not only warmth, but provided a cooking solution as well. Today we don’t use our home fireplaces for cooking, but chimney pots are still a functional design element to keep out pests and water while replacing standard chimney caps. Chimney pots are available today in several materials–clay, iron or my personal favorite, copper. To learn more about the UL-listed line of copper pots I designed, visit europeancopperchimneypots.com.