Fish Restaurant by Studio Droog
Studio Droog
Fish Restaurant, 2012
Presented as a part of the exhibition in Guangzhou, a traditional Chinese restaurant placed in a fish tank was designed to accommodate six people. The inhabitants could swim by and supposedly eat at miniature 3D-printed tables under a lantern, like in a Chinese restaurant. By re-copying the Chinese restaurant interior and traditional Chinese products, from tables to bowls and lamps, Droog discussed the need to revalue copying as a positive trait.
Western Chinese restaurants pride themselves on their authenticity. They are designed to be as genuine as possible, from the décor, to the tableware, the lighting to the food. Yet these restaurants are very far removed from the real eateries of China, they feel fake, even though many things in the restaurant can actually be found in shops in China. The Western Chinese restaurant is therefore a new typology, a copied environment that, in its attempts to be authentic, becomes all the more false.