Umi Sushi Seattle

Seattle restaurant Momiji a stunner in the works

From the outside, it's a small old building with "Dawson Plumbing Co." splashed across its front top.

Inside, it expands and brightens, with a burst of freshness to Kyoto, a mixture of modern lines and master craftsmanship, with a traditional Japanese courtyard with trees and rocks, where there was a parking .

For a look at a rendering of the planned procedure, click here.

This is Steven Han's Restaurant Momiji, a stunner in the works.The opening is still several weeks away, but even now, amid the clutter and noise of construction, is fast growing into a thing of beauty.

Han has studied industrial design at the University of Washington. He had five other restaurants, including Umi Sake House and Kushibar, both in the Belltown neighborhood, but Momiji is special.

"This is the final," he said. "Everything I learned."

Han is to work with Hiroshi Matsubara Seattle architecture and interior design firm Studio GM.Other prime contractors are Georgetown-based custom lighting designer Yuri Kinoshita, a master carpenter Craig Yamamoto Whidbey Island and head Chikako Watanabe, who is developing the kaiseki (traditional dinner to several services) Menu.

Kinoshita, a native of Kyoto, specializes in what she calls "the light woven." His dramatic montages, using Japanese handmade paper and textiles, hang in Georgetown Corson Building Boom Noodle University Village and Umi Sake House.

Yamamoto, whose designs are inspired by Japanese and Shaker craftsmen, is the creation of a door, 23 tables, cabinets, a top sushi bar and the Han calls "a badass DJ booth" for Momiji.

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