Cancook Restaurant | Mercadal Diseño

In a central Zaragoza street (Spain), a modern-looking tiled façade invites you to stop and take a look. It is the new venue of Cancook Restaurant, the holder of a prestigious international Michelin star since 2016.

The doorway to the restaurant is set in a big four-metre-high wall, clad entirely in exquisite small ceramic tiles by WOW Design. The expressive potential of natural clay tiles is a superb gateway to the sensory experience afforded by this specialist in signature cuisine. 

When diners pass through the doorway of the new Cancook, they are accompanied on their journey, stopping off to see the locally sourced fresh produce and other products typically used in Zaragoza’s local cuisine.  

The 270m2 space, organized on two floors, has been designed to create an all-round sensory experience as diners journey through the different phases involved in the preparation of the dishes and the restaurant’s different rooms.

Having passed through the cosy reception area, with its mix of wood and ceramic tiles, diners reach the ground floor of the restaurant where its experimental kitchen can be found: a laboratory for R&D in a perpetual state of movement.

This goes through to the wine cellar and to a staircase clad entirely in the same tile model, which leads up again to the dining room. The restaurant has a total of three different kitchens, serving just five tables, each of which can hold four diners. In this intimate, experimental backdrop, only 20 people can share the same experience at one time.

Signature haute cuisine

In this project, WOW’s tiles were used once again to achieve a careful balance, in this case of haute cuisine, architecture, art and design.

The same model was used for its different spaces: small rectangular clay-coloured 5x15cm tiles. According to the design studio in charge of the project, “The chosen tile model by WOW is intended to emulate the passion for local produce that the restaurant’s culinary artists share.”

The Bejmat collection: a linking thread in this gastronomic experience

Bejmat is a tile model with an artisanal, highly expressive clay-like appearance. It upholds the tiny differences between one tile and the next, tying in with the restaurant’s philosophy of customizing each dish through its subtle nuances. The tile model acts as a linking thread as diners pass through the restaurant’s different rooms, where it is combined with other top-quality materials.  

The BEJMAT wall tile collection is inspired by traditional Moorish architecture. Available in a natural fired clay finish or a glazed one in 9 different colours, it comes in a rectangular 5x15cm or square 15x15cm format, combinable with 6 different décors.   

Mercadal Diseño: a technical and creative balance

MERCADAL diseño S.L.U. is a design studio founded in 2007 by interior designer Jose Luis Mercadal. A specialist in the design of corporate and commercial spaces and private homes, the studio’s versatile, multidisciplinary team seek to create projects conspicuous for their balance and creative and technical sensitivity.

WOW, signature tile design

WOW is a specialist in the design and development of bespoke one-of-a-kind signature tiles, tailored to meet individual projects and the needs of architects and interior designers. This makes the studio unique throughout the world.

With its 20 years’ experience in tiles for material specifiers, WOW is present in 76 countries worldwide. It currently has a turnover of almost 53 million euros, with yearly rises in its annual turnover of about 40%, and a stable workforce of 300 people from the local community.

Its main target markets are the USA and European Union countries. Its goal is to continue expanding, mainly in these two markets via material specifiers through the design of small-format tiles with a high added value.

Ceramic by Wow Design 

Photography: Xoel Berguès