There’s a moment, just before the first pizza hits the flame, when conversation lifts and everyone leans in.
Dough is stretched, toppings debated, and someone’s already poured the wine. For Suzanne and Damian Lee, that moment is the heartbeat of their home.
In the leafy suburb of Eaglemont, Victoria, the couple’s tiled Jalando pizza oven sits like a polished centrepiece in their outdoor entertaining space. It isn’t just a feature. It’s the catalyst for something much bigger.
“You start by thinking you’ll make a few pizzas,” says Suzanne. “But it becomes a reason to gather. People get involved. They stay longer. They help out. It’s not dinner, it’s a night.”
Their oven—a JA90 with a custom mosaic tile finish—is an example of how form meets function in the backyard. It heats quickly, retains temperature, and handles everything from slow-cooked stews to charred vegetables and golden flatbreads. But its greatest achievement may be how it creates a wood fired pizza oven lifestyle by transforming dinner into a shared event.
There’s a lot to be said for good food cooked well. But what happens around the oven is where the magic lives.
“There’s always someone rolling dough or adding toppings,” Damian adds. “People who’d normally be sitting on the sidelines jump in. Suddenly you’ve got three generations around the bench, all making something together.”
It’s a theme that’s echoed across the country. Jalando Pizza Ovens, a family-run business based in Preston, has built a community not just of customers but of cooks. From regional farms to inner-city rooftops, their ovens are used for much more than pizza.
Roasts, vegetable trays, sourdough, lamb shoulders, seafood, desserts—the versatility of wood-fired cooking has captured the imagination of home cooks who want more from their meals. And they’re finding it outside, under the stars, with friends at their elbows.
One of Jalando’s calling cards is personalisation. Some customers, like Suzanne, tile their ovens to match their outdoor settings. Others opt for the sleek, pre-tiled finishes that blend into a variety of homes.
“You can see when someone’s made it their own,” says Wendy Lawton, part of the Jalando team. “We’ve had people design spaces around their oven. It becomes part of the identity of the home.”
The ovens are built for performance but designed for longevity—solid refractory materials, handcrafted finishes, triple-skin flues. But they’re also easy to use, especially for beginners. That balance has helped Jalando gain a loyal following.
Australia has always leaned outdoors, but something about the last few years has pushed cooking out of the kitchen and onto the patio. The ritual of lighting the fire, prepping ingredients, and watching food cook in a blaze of heat taps into something primal—but also deeply communal.
Suzanne and Damian aren’t alone. Their gatherings are part of a wider movement that sees cooking as an experience, not just a necessity. It’s one part theatre, one part tradition. And it doesn’t end when the pizzas are done.
“We’ll throw in vegetables or a roast after the heat dies down,” says Damian. “The next morning we might bake bread. You learn the rhythm of the oven, and it just becomes part of how you live.”
Jalando isn’t just selling ovens—they’re coaching, collaborating, and championing a return to something older and richer than takeaway.
“We have people come back to us years later,” says Suzanne. “Sometimes they’ve moved house and left their oven behind. They always say the same thing: ‘We need another one. It just wasn’t the same without it.'”
Their wood fired pizza model, the JA90, is one of Jalando’s flagship ovens. It’s part of the company’s preassembled range, designed to make wood-fired cooking accessible without compromising on quality. Built with dense refractory materials and expertly tiled by hand, the JA90 arrives ready to install, cutting out the need for long construction times or complex builds.
For those who want the benefits of a traditional oven without the wait, the JA90 offers fast setup and immediate performance—without skipping the craftsmanship that sets Jalando apart. It’s an oven that’s ready for the first cook just days after delivery, and one that fits beautifully into modern Australian homes and outdoor spaces.
Back in Eaglemont, the dough is rising. The table is set. And another pizza night is about to begin.
Explore Jalando’s range of preassembled and custom-tiled ovens at jalandopizzaovens.com.au/preassembled-pizza-ovens
