As muffled conversations and. farewell notes of jazz float up to the sky – the baker gets to work. The bassline and flour have charted a path; the stage has been set. Somewhere in the throes of dawn, the musician and baker find harmony. Lost in their fundamental desire to put together ingredients that make magic; they make something anew. The aroma of bread and notes of the accordion dance together; inspiring and emulating. Food and music universal languages that speak to us all.
While crossing the busy street of Banani 11 in Dhaka city, you can randomly walk into the recently launched Emerald Bakery and Café. Owned by the family behind Emerald Restaurants, the Emerald Bakery started its journey with a small shop in Uttara back in 2018. It was initiated by Shamima Rahman with her dream of stepping into the bakery market, and moved to a bigger space within the food court at Chef’s Table in Gulshan. But overall Emerald Restaurants is co-owned by Shamima Rahman (mother), Aminur Rahman (father), Shaker Ibne Amin, Sabbir Ibne Amin and Ayeman Ibne Amin (sons).
Shaker Ibne Amin found a gem of a location; one of the very few independent houses left that can be used commercially. This opportunity encouraged them to dream of a street-side venture, not confined within a tall structure made of steel, glass, and concrete. Hence with this new thought process, the Emerald Bakery and Café went through a rebranding. The new branding has a core value of using patterns, as suggested by Prianka Ameen, who worked along with the designing firm, Inked Studio, to wrap this concept throughout the whole café and packaging. “Bakery is science, where measurement is the key and patterns are very mathematical by nature. However, we also wanted to make our place cozy and homely, creating an ambiance that one experiences in a family-run bistro. Therefore, perfectly made patterns would be too rigid and organised for us. Therefore, we decided to go with handmade/drawn patterns, where each motif is flawed yet unique. We have taken this concept to drive the whole design process; from branding and our menu to the architecture,” Sabbir Ibne Amin said while explaining his wife’s concept.
Before intervening with the venture in a new location they surveyed and studied a lot of human behaviour. That is mostly how Inked Studio works, being a human-centered design studio. Hence, they tried to build a place where one can work individually, plan office meetings, hang out with office colleagues or friends, have family dinners, or just spend a lazy afternoon with a book. These use cases helped generate the design, the seating layouts, lighting, and sound panels, and Parisian-influenced subtle and muted colour palettes, mostly inspired by nature and the colours from their dishes. Patterns have been made on feature walls using simple and rudimentary techniques. Blocks used for drawing patterns on the f loor have been repurposed to see thru panels that separate open spaces. There is a conscious repetition of elements but in a very organic and uneven way.
The paintings of different sizes have been printed and framed first before deciding which walls they belonged to, just as the way one buys paintings for our homes. Mostly the paintings chosen are of classic female painters, although famous among art enthusiasts, are not fairly represented to the masses as opposed to their male contemporaries. Therefore, about half the paintings are works of female artists such as Tamara de Lempicka, Irma Stern, Emily Carr, and Suzanne Valadon.
Prianka Ameen, the food consultant for Emerald Bakery, worked closely with Mr Ayeman and the chefs to design and develop the menu. As the cafe business is competitive where they have established The Grove Bistro, Gusto, and Trouvaille, Ms Prianka was tasked with designing a menu that could differentiate “us”. “Studying European and North American cafes and bistros, we came up with our very own twist of a concise, healthy, and diverse menu. Our dishes reflect the comfort and homeliness while strengthening the identity of being both a cafe and bakery,” Mr Sabbir added.
The architectural project was led by Inked Studios, a design firm where team members from different fields and expertise work collaboratively to design, develop and execute ideas. Designers who worked on this project from Inked including Zehra (anthropology and literature), Auhona and Navid (Architecture), Redwan (Hospitality Management and Client Servicing), Nashad (Art and Visual Design), Ayeman (Business Administration and Entrepreneurship), Sabbir (Mathematics and User Centered Design) and Zara (Business Administration). The brand line for the bakery and café is the food that syncs. Every project under Inked Studio and Emerald Restaurants has a concept and story behind it. As the venture grows old, it changes but the core concept always remains the same, just as a human.
Authored by Rehnuma Tasnim Sheefa
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