Knife Pleat - South Coast Plaza

Johnson Fain

Restaurateur Yassmin Sarmadi and chef Tony Esnault (formerly of Los Angeles’ French bistro Church & State) are behind Knife Pleat at South Coast Plaza. The name comes from a fashion term, which is a heavy influence in the interior design of the space. It occupies the upscale property’s third-level Penthouse and seats 80 diners in a chic dining room with wood tables, an alabaster chandelier, and a skylight. There is also a white marble bar offering a look at the action in the kitchen, which boasts a wood-burning oven. Esnault draws on his fine-dining experience and present modern interpretations of classic French techniques. 

Alexandra’s role in this project was to develop the Revit model from AutoCAD backgrounds that included  all custom furniture pieces of the project, custom lighting fixtures, and very specific construction and material details to convey a virtual reality model to the client. This presentation was also used at a  holiday Christmas party with Johnson Fain’s full client list in attendance as well as other business  partners. This process included solely Alexandra to develop the Enscape Virtual Reality experience from start to finish. This opportunity led to Alexandra’s lectured piece at 2019 Bim Bop at USC alongside colleague Jed Donaldson.