We know fireplaces
We’ve each spent nearly two decades in the fireplace industry — designing products for the largest brands in the industry and working with the materials that end up in people’s homes. We know how these products get made.
We also know what gets compromised along the way. As electric fireplaces moved direct-to-customer and into national builders, the shortcuts became the standard. Shallow ember beds. Synthetic materials. Copy-paste designs. The kind of compromises most homeowners would never notice — but would feel.
We started SotaFlame with a simple belief: details matter. Real materials matter. Thoughtful design matters. The focal point of your room deserves better.
Joe Kuefler
Owner & Co-Founder
Joe spent nearly two decades in the fireplace industry and has led the development of dozens of electric fireplaces. At SotaFlame, he shapes the products, the brand, and the creative direction. Outside of work, you can often find him cooking somewhere near an open flame — grilling, smoking, or tending a fire pit.
Paul Kilburg
Owner & Co-Founder
Paul spent nearly two decades in the fireplace industry across operations, finance, and demand planning. He runs the operational side of SotaFlame — manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, and the planning that gets products from factory to front door. A competitive tennis player, Paul has qualified for nationals in his division every year for the past several years.
Rooted in Minnesota
“Sota” is short for Minnesota — and it’s more than a name. We’re based here. We source and produce our real wood log sets here. And our fireplaces are named after Minnesota neighborhoods and places — because where we come from shapes how we build.