Pari Pari Brings the Tranquility of Japanese Architecture to Miami
The newly opened restaurant features interiors inspired by “In Praise of Shadows”.
Summary
- Rudy Guénaire has created the interiors for a new Japanese restaurant in Miami named Pari Pari
- The design takes on elements of Japanese architectural philosophy and is inspired by the essay “In Praise of Shadows.”
French interior designer Rudy Guénaire has created the interiors for a new Japanese restaurant in Miami’s Wynwood district, centering the entire space around a counter designed to look like a softly glowing lamp.
Named Pari Pari, the new restaurant comes from the Michelin-starred Japanese chef Yasu Tanaka, and as such, Guénaire incorporated Japanese architectural philosophy into his design.
“In Japan, architecture has long been less about color or material than about light, and light in Japan has always been a matter of shadow,” he said. “On the other side, Miami is nothing but sun: an endless white beach and, when the sun finally sets, the skyline shimmers beneath neon lights.”
Victor Stonem
Victor Stonem
Victor Stonem
Victor Stonem
Partially influenced by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s essay on Japanese aesthetics, “In Praise of Shadows”, Guénaire went about crafting a space that felt soft around the edges, both in terms of color and light. “What I wanted to design here was ‘A Praise of Light’ — the counterpoint, on the other side of the earth, to Tanizaki’s meditation on shadow,” he added.
The restaurant’s core feature is the handroll counter, which the designer conceived as a large Japanese andon lamp. Built from American maple wood, it emits a glow that, by day, resembles the morning sun and, at night, the city’s sunsets.
Above the counter, a vast, suspended drape references the noren that hang over Japanese restaurant façades. This substantial canopy creates a visual frame for the counter, where the fish is prepared.
Elsewhere across the interior, Guénaire looked to blend tradition with local style. The small Pari Pari sign nods to the volumetric logos of Miami’s 1930s hotels, while the high stools in their sea-like hues were crafted following the pure rules of Japanese joinery (shiguchi) and assembled without glue.
Take a look around via the gallery.
