Pari Pari, Miami - 2025

With such a sharp team, a renowned Japanese chef (Michelin-starred chef Yasu Tanaka), and a tropical, exuberant city facing a sun-drenched sea, designing Pari Pari was pure delight. From the outset, it was clear to me that the challenge would be to intertwine, in a language true to this city, the subtlety of Japanese culture.

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. The Japanese have a thousand words to describe what lies between shade and complete darkness. And then there is, of course, Tanizaki’s celebrated essay, In Praise of Shadows. 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. 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.

The counter where the handrolls are served was conceived as a big Japanese andon lamp (行灯). Its structure is built from the clearest, brightest wood one can find in the United States: American maple. By day, the counter radiates a refreshing glow, like a morning sun; by night, it envelops guests with the warmth of Miami’s stunning sunsets.

Above the counter, a vast suspended drape recalls the noren that sway above the façades of restaurants in Japan. The Japanese say a place has a noren ga omoi—a “heavy noren”—when it enjoys a fine reputation. The noren is also a sign of reverence for centuries-old tradition. Here, the noren is monumental.

Yet this great canopy also echoes sacred draperies, transforming our luminous counter into a kind of sacrificial altar. It is beneath this veil of white linen that the wondrous fish are cut with precision.

The small Pari Pari sign nods to the fabulous volumetric logos of Miami’s 1930s hotels. The high stool, hued with the colors of the sea, was crafted following the pure rules of Japanese joinery (shiguchi 仕口)—assembled without a drop of glue.

Pari Pari stands in the heart of Wynwood, Miami’s coolest neighborhood. The restaurant is open every day, for lunch and dinner.

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