The History
Brick + Hearth is a venue created by SAAGE Culinary Studio (saageculinary.com). Since our very first location in 2015, SAAGE has always been a hub for good food & good company, hosting everything from cooking classes, tastings, and corporate team building, to bridal showers, photoshoots, and vendor markets. After 10 years of experience, we're proud to introduce Brick + Hearth as the dedicated venue at our downtown Aurora location. Think of us for intimate celebrations, professional gatherings, and culinary creativity. Stay close, we're just lighting up the hearth and we can't wait to welcome you in.
The Design Concept
Set along the Fox riverfront in downtown Aurora, Brick + Hearth is a contemporary event space that reinterprets the city’s industrial heritage through a warm, human-scaled lens. Conceived as a venue where food and architecture converge, the project integrates an open kitchen (the space's symbolic “hearth”) as the organizing core of the interior, encouraging fluid interaction between guests, chefs, and the spatial environment.
The design draws from the material language of Aurora’s manufacturing past, translating it into a palette of concrete, metal, and wood. Exposed structural elements and clean mechanical lines express the building’s urban honesty, while custom millwork introduces tactile warmth, function, and rhythm. This industrial framework is softened by tulle curtains that filter daylight into a diffuse, atmospheric glow.
The tall windows offer an uninterrupted view of the surrounding woodlands, the flowing river, and occasional sightings of wildlife, providing a serene and organic counterpoint to the interior architecture’s linear rigor. Furnishings in muted tones offer a neutral foundation that accommodates both culinary demonstrations and private gatherings with minimal transformation.
Lighting is treated as both artifact and ambiance. The venue’s signature two-toned pendant fixtures, inspired by the gradient of soot on historic gas lanterns, combine translucent glass with a smoked upper dome, casting a warm, hearth-like glow over the dining area. Their presence reinforces the project’s narrative: a space where industrial craft meets the culture of communal cooking and dining.
Across its material and spatial strategies, Brick + Hearth aims to create an environment that is simultaneously urban and inviting, raw and refined. The very act of gathering around food, around light & warmth, and around good company forms the very architecture of the space.
The design draws from the material language of Aurora’s manufacturing past, translating it into a palette of concrete, metal, and wood. Exposed structural elements and clean mechanical lines express the building’s urban honesty, while custom millwork introduces tactile warmth, function, and rhythm. This industrial framework is softened by tulle curtains that filter daylight into a diffuse, atmospheric glow.
The tall windows offer an uninterrupted view of the surrounding woodlands, the flowing river, and occasional sightings of wildlife, providing a serene and organic counterpoint to the interior architecture’s linear rigor. Furnishings in muted tones offer a neutral foundation that accommodates both culinary demonstrations and private gatherings with minimal transformation.
Lighting is treated as both artifact and ambiance. The venue’s signature two-toned pendant fixtures, inspired by the gradient of soot on historic gas lanterns, combine translucent glass with a smoked upper dome, casting a warm, hearth-like glow over the dining area. Their presence reinforces the project’s narrative: a space where industrial craft meets the culture of communal cooking and dining.
Across its material and spatial strategies, Brick + Hearth aims to create an environment that is simultaneously urban and inviting, raw and refined. The very act of gathering around food, around light & warmth, and around good company forms the very architecture of the space.
