Flux Design - the work

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Steel Scene: Eve Bar
Club World Award Nominee: Flux Design, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A dÈcor that merges nature and industry.

The best part of Milwaukee restaurant/nightclub Eve Bar is its head-turning interior, thanks to the local boys at Flux Design. Flux is a three-year-old company started by Jeremy Shamrowicz and Jesse Meyer, and its group of artists and designers have given Eve a look thatís both classic and modern. Shamrowicz walked us through each element, including the over-grown vines, custom DJ booth, and the red, snaking metal sculpture that twists and turns through both of Eveís floors.

Towering: ìThe dance area is in our structural style, [meaning] itís based more off rich structures, towers, etcetera. The dancefloor itself actually flows into three rooms. Thereís one main room with the DJ booth and an entertainment pod/elevated dancefloor.î Thereís a red sculpture that starts in that area: Itís in the structural style, and bounces through the bar and undulates out the other side. It goes up the ceiling and through the walls. It turns into a table that shoots through a wall into another room, which is like a VIP room. That piece then shoots through the ceiling, through the walls, through the floor, and comes out and becomes and entire bench. Then it goes through another room through a vestibule, and it end up in the VIP. We call it ëthe temptation piece to the Garden of Eden,í the Garden being downstairs. If you look at the sculpture, there are these little stainless steel balls engulfed in it. You can watch and follow it through the rooms. Itís like the snake that is tempting you with the forbidden fruit.î

Tailored: ìThe DJ booth is an elevated custom structure in hand bent steel. Itís got these points and curves. Theyíre soft curves, but theyíre pointed. Itís kind of naughty and industrial at the same time. We brought in the DJ, measured him, and asked him what would be the ideal situation for the position of records and CDís, and where he would like his lighting effects. Itís made with a concrete slab, so itís basically air cushioned; it has air shocks in it. People can bounce and smack on the cage and the turntables wonít skip. We customized it to the DJís height, and then inlaid lighting inside of it.î

Tech-ganic: ìThe restaurant downstairs is more organic. I [combined] old vines [and trees] with a contemporary look. It looks like theyíre overgrown, but itís technology; itís newer. So downstairs is the place for dining, itís all white pure organic, and if you look behind the main bar and up into the ceiling the organic stuff turns into the structural, and itís dripping red. The idea behind the theme is that youíre downstairs and youíre eating, and then you go upstairs for the temptation, the spirits, the movement, the body. It gets people.î

P40

Club Systems International, December 2003