In The News: Tincan – Objects of Desire

Architect Amanda Levete opened a pop-up restaurant in London’s Soho where tins of the finest seafood from around the world were presented in a ‘museum-type’ environment before being served to customers to eat straight out of the can.

“What started as lunch quickly became an idea and then a new project: no kitchen, the finest tinned seafood in the world, super healthy, great graphics and with the tin as hero. Tincan elevates the humble tin to an object of desire.” – Amanda speaking to Amy Frearson from Dezeen back in September 2014.

Named Tincan, the restaurant opened as part of the London Design Festival in 2014 and was open for six months before moving to New York in 2015.

Tincan served tinned seafood in three categories ‘From the Coast’ – including sardines, mackerel and tuna, ‘Out to Sea’ – pilchards, anchovies and squid, and ‘Deep Sea’, with items such as Sea Urchin. The tinned seafood was served with fresh bread, salad and wine. The window display also doubles as a shop, where you can buy the tins to take home, as well as selected olive oil and wine.

“We take the tin and if it’s beautiful we’ll serve the dish in the tin. We’ll take the excess oil off, put it on a dish and put bread, salt, chilli peppers and shallots on the table, and that’s it”

The strength of the concept is the quality of the seafood and the beauty of the iconic packaging, which was used as the main decoration in the restaurant. The simple, architectural black walls, ceiling and parquet floor act as a sophisticated backdrop for the striking display system making the tins ‘objects of desire’.

“We thought: ‘Let’s elevate the humble tin into an object of desire, let’s put it in a museum-type vitrine, let’s make a spectacular display of them’,”– Amanda speaking to Amy Frearson from Dezeen back in September 2014.