Used to be if you wanted a fireplace, you bought a home with one built in. Now, with standalone models like this one from Stephane Perruchon, you can just pick one up and throw it in any room.

Perruchon's design, called Babylon, has a clever twist, too: The burner hangs in the middle of a frame from a steel cable, and it's fueled by ethanol to keep it clean and green. The frame comes in many shapes: circle, rectangle, pyramid — most any polygon, really. For anyone with modern décor that doesn't really go with the conventional fireplace"look," the Babylon is perfect. Or would be, if it weren't just a concept design.

Stephane Perruchon, via Born Rich