6mm 'The Hive' — Waratahs Flat-Pack Fire Pit
 

Eighteen waratahs. Six panels. One Australian garden, lit from within.

Our flagship Hive, laser-cut with three Australian waratah flowers on every hexagonal panel — stems, leaves, and bracts rendered in a flowing, botanical silhouette that reads as illustration in steel. Six panels, eighteen waratahs, one of the most deliberately Australian pieces in our range.

Same 6mm BlueScope REDCOR® plate-steel construction as our Starry Night and Flame Horses Hives, same proprietary warp-proof base, same dimensions — the difference is entirely in what the walls say about the fire inside them.
 

The Waratahs effect

The waratahs are cut into every panel at varying heights and orientations, so whichever side of the pit you're on, you're looking at a botanical composition in weathered steel. Unlit, the motif reads as a quiet, beautifully considered piece — the kind of detail that rewards a second look. Lit, it transforms. Firelight pours through every stem, leaf, and flower, casting warm botanical silhouettes across the surrounding ground and plants. The fire in the pit becomes a garden of light projected onto the garden around it.

It's the most poetic of our three Hive patterns — less dramatic than the Flame Horses, warmer than the Starry Night, and specifically, unmistakably Australian.
 

Who this is for

The Waratahs Hive belongs in gardens that take their Australian identity seriously.

• Native gardens — banksia, grevillea, kangaroo paw, waratah, gum. The motif reads as a continuation of the planting scheme, not an object sitting against it
• Coastal and bushland properties — the weathered Corten patina sits naturally against sandstone, eucalypt, and the tonal palette of the Australian landscape
• Homes with a view — properties where the fire pit anchors an outdoor space designed around looking at Australia. The piece is generous enough to hold the foreground without blocking the horizon
• Anyone who loves Australian flora — you don't need a native garden to love the imagery. Plenty of our Waratahs pits end up in contemporary courtyards, urban terraces, and traditional gardens bought by people whose connection to the Australian bush is emotional as much as horticultural

If you love the Australian landscape, this pit will feel like it belongs before you've even lit it.
 

Why the base matters

Almost every fire pit on the market eventually warps. Repeated heating and cooling cycles distort the base, the floor sags or domes, the geometry goes wrong, and within a few years you're staring at a piece of expensive deformed steel.

We spent serious R&D time solving this. We tested gauges thicker than 6mm — they didn't fix the problem. We tested base layouts, support patterns, expansion-relief geometries. The design we landed on is our own, proprietary, and it works. The Hive doesn't warp out of shape across normal residential fire-pit use. The base stays flat. The geometry stays true. The pit you light tonight will sit the same way ten years from now.

For a piece at this size and price point, that engineering promise matters more than almost anything else. Warped geometry on a hexagonal pit is immediately visible — symmetry is unforgiving. Ours holds.
 

6mm Corten — the right material for fire

Corten weathering steel is the natural choice for a fire pit. It handles repeated heating and cooling without the coating-failure issues that plague painted steel — there's no paint to bubble, blister, peel, or off-gas the first time you build a serious fire. The steel develops its protective rust patina over the first few weeks outdoors and from there, it's effectively maintenance-free.

At 6mm thick, the Hive is in a different category to mass-market fire pits sold at 3mm or thinner. Heavier-gauge steel holds heat longer (better radiant warmth on a cold night), retains structural integrity through countless burn cycles, and reads as architectural rather than disposable. 350MPa BlueScope REDCOR® steel. Same grade specified in bridges and public sculpture.

At 110kg assembled, the Hive sits exactly where you put it and doesn't move.
 

Built for bigger spaces, bigger gatherings

At 1080mm across the top, the Hive is substantially larger than either of our Low-Rider or Tall-Jan pits. It holds more wood, throws more heat, and seats a bigger circle around it comfortably. For larger entertaining spaces, extended-family gatherings, holiday properties, country homes, or commercial / hospitality installs, the size is right in a way the smaller pits wouldn't be.
 

Choose your leg height

The Hive comes with your choice of two leg heights — the same pit, set at a different elevation to suit your seating and the visual weight you want the piece to carry in the space.

Short Legs — the pit sits closer to the ground and reads as grounded, low, and substantial. Pairs with low and mid-height seating (outdoor lounges, benches, chairs, stone blocks). The fire sits in natural sight line for relaxed entertaining.

Tall Legs — the pit is raised for dining-height seating or standing groups. The extra elevation also makes the Waratahs panels more visually prominent when unlit, and the cooking height more comfortable if you're using it with cooking swords.

If you're unsure which leg height suits, send us your layout and seating and we'll help you decide.
 

Cooks brilliantly

The Hive's substantial open bowl and rock-solid geometry make it an outstanding cooking surface. Pair it with our Tramontina cooking swords — Argentinian-style skewers designed to push into the ground around the fire and cook slow-roast meat over open coals — for a genuinely impressive outdoor cooking centrepiece. At 1080mm across, there's serious cooking space on this pit.
 

Built to anchor a space, made to last

• Flat-pack construction — slots together, no tools required
• 110kg assembled — stays exactly where you put it
• 1080mm across the top — substantial enough for larger spaces and gatherings
• Sits on feet with built-in drainage — won't pool water in the bowl between uses
• 6mm Corten plate — same heavy-gauge steel used across our premium range
• Australian made — fabricated by our team at Somersby, NSW

Choose your leg height

The Hive comes with your choice of two leg heights — the same pit, set at a different elevation to suit your seating and the visual weight you want the piece to carry in the space.

The Hive is fabricated from 6mm BlueScope REDCOR® — Australia's premium weathering steel, the same material used in architectural cladding, bridges, and public sculpture.

REDCOR® is engineered to rust on purpose. When exposed to the elements, it develops a dense, tightly-bonded patina that actively seals the surface and stops corrosion from penetrating deeper. No paint. No coating. No flaking. The rust is the protection — and unlike painted fire pits, there's nothing to bubble, blister, or off-gas the first time you build a serious fire in it.

At 350MPa tensile strength and 6mm gauge, this is structural-grade steel — substantially heavier than the 3mm-or-thinner pits common in the category. Heavier steel holds radiant heat longer, resists warping better, and reads as a permanent landscape piece rather than a disposable garden accessory.

Your pit ships in raw silver steel and develops a rich, even rust patina over the first few weeks outdoors. As the patina forms, the waratah motif becomes part of a weathered, cohesive whole — the flowers read against a rich, earthy backdrop that echoes the tonal palette of the Australian bush. From there it's maintenance-free for the life of the product.

Flat-pack — here for winter, gone for summer

The Hive arrives flat-packed — ships in a compact carton rather than a massive assembled piece, slots together without tools, and can be disassembled again when fire-pit season ends. For a 110kg fire pit, flat-pack isn't just a shipping advantage — it's the difference between a piece you can actually get delivered to your property and one that requires a crane.

Disassembled, it stores flat against a wall through summer and reassembles when the weather turns. Same pit, half the footprint when you don't need it.
 

The Hive ships in three laser-cut wall patterns. The steel, the geometry, the warp-proof base, and the dimensions are identical — the choice is entirely about what you want the piece to bring to the space.

Not sure which suits your space? Send us a photo and we'll help you pick.