Project Name: Ember Restaurant

Location: Miami

Date Completed: 2019

Interior Designer: Mark Alan Diaz Design

EMBER crafts and redefines the aesthetic of masculinity by bringing a balance to the traditional norms associated with a virile space. It aims to render a space with a sense of humanity so it may be in harmony with the character and values of the culinary artist who inspired its creation, Owner Chef Brad Kilgore. Just as the steam rising from a newly created dish bears the essence of its ingredients and its method of creation, EMBER stands as the ‘spatial embodiment’ of Chef Kilgore; thoughtful and direct, soft-spoken and urbane, energetic and impassioned, bold and innovative, and most importantly constantly evolving.

EMBER’s ‘bones and skin’ are inspired by a futurists retrospective love for the Streamline Modern style of Art Deco architecture and furniture. The emphasis on the forward-looking industrial ingenuity and scientific thinking of the 1930s. The dream of continuity and aerodynamic shapes, long horizontal lines, offset curved and repeating lines replaced the hard edges and rectilinear bulkiness of more traditional architectural styles. The forced perspective ‘veins’ are the offset bullet-like shapes enveloping the space and are the circulatory tactile, superficial and embedded visual elements throughout the project, emphasising the coalescence of bold shapes, soft lines and a softer, stronger palette.

The wider environment is as much who we are and whom we meet, as it is where we choose to be. To inhabit the embodiment of a soul is arguably life itself and the evolution of that soul/environment is by the craft of discernment. Contextually, this project speaks to the importance of what a softer, stronger, more discerning masculine world might look like within our current global environment. Geographically, it sits amongst the global luxury elites as the valiant beta male within the Miami Design District. Spiritually, it is the giver and provider of nourishment to the Miami Design District community at large. Aesthetically, it is considered Neo Meco: New Miami Deco. Physically, its placed humbly below a bar, Kaido/Ama, also designed by Mark Alan Diaz Design, representing femininity and its innate strengths.