Long Island City, New York-based design firm dash design has announced the completion of two culinary projects in Fort Collins, Colorado for Sage Restaurant Group.
Both a local marketplace and American, brasserie-style concept, Emporium Kitchen & Wine Market welcomes visitors with a semi-open kitchen. To convey a small-town atmosphere, the interior features reclaimed wood floors, painted wood shelving, open deli cases, and thoughtful touches, including painted bead board and chalkboards. Metal and wood archways provide a touch of industrial modernity within the high and bright space, further illuminated with market lighting. A custom penny round tiled floor is installed in the wine shop along with a faux, antiqued tin ceiling, marquee-lit ceiling trusses, and dining chairs upholstered in monochrome black and camel-toned bentwood. Along with an open kitchen, an oversized white oak and marble top bread and wine table is a design accent.
“The vision was to create the feel of a small-town, local market transformed into an emporium that reflects and showcases Fort Collins’ vibrant character,” says dash design founder and partner David Ashen “dash design worked to incorporate the city’s active, outdoorsy, and entrepreneurial spirit into the design.”
Magic Rat
Located adjacent to the city’s Elizabeth Hotel, Magic Rat is anchored by a large fireplace clad with green glazed tiles and a letterboard framing the words to the Bruce Springsteen song “Jungleland”—the bar’s namesake. Beyond the oversized, tufted green leather pocket doors, a central wooden stage is surrounded by an array of plush seating, from serpentine yellow banquettes to wood-backed leather sofas.
“It’s got an offbeat, neighborhood bar vibe,” says Kristin Cullen, who served as lead designer on the project for dash design. “It’s an inclusive setting for musicians and enthusiasts alike, and it is anything but your typical lobby bar. It’s a place people will go to for an experience not found anywhere else in Fort Collins or even Colorado, for that matter.”
