Convivial experience: Restaurant takes pot luck

Lely will play host to guests, facilitating their interaction through the unusual construct of the pieces, which reveal different foods in stages and feature elongated eating and serving spoons, so strangers can ‘link with each other across the space’, says Lely.

‘The designs have numerous talking points, or ice breakers, that encourage this atmosphere,’ says Lely. ‘My concern was that community spirit and social cohesion in London are being eroded. My aim was to create a place for collective experience to help us rediscover our sense of unity.’

For more on how novel designs are being used to make dining more compelling, read our Food Futures report. For more on the movement that seeks to rediscover our sense of community, read our Conviviality Culture macrotrend.