“We marry beauty and function and that’s what sets our brand apart,” she says. “Some brands focus purely on design, some on function, and we do both.”
This, she argues, is harder to achieve than one might realise. “These are functional items, they do need to perform. You set them on fire, you put them on hot surfaces, you scrub them. But beautiful design is inspiring – it inspires you to cook, and host, and helps you think of cooking as a creative act and not a chore.”
Our Place cookware comes eye-catching colours.
It was this idea that originally inspired Our Place. Shahid was born and raised in Pakistan and moved to the United States to study international relations at Stanford University, and then to Dubai for a role with McKinsey. As a young adult, she realised she couldn’t cook (in fact, her mother had not taught her because she wanted the young Shahid to focus on her studies) and so set to teaching herself, planting a seed of an idea. After McKinsey, Shahid launched the Malala Foundation with Nobel Peace Prize laureate and girls’ education advocate Malala Yousafzai.
Shahid left the non-profit after five years and established Our Place with her husband, Amir Tehrani, and their friend Zach Rosner.
“I’m an immigrant and so is my partner,” she says. “We found ‘our place’ through cooking. We believe breaking bread is this incredible way of connecting to culture, tradition and families. Learning to cook as someone older, I saw the world from the outside in, almost, and I thought, I think this can be done better.”
KitchenAid designer Brittni Pertijs with the stand mixer design by Alemais.
The brand, which markets itself like a fashion brand with limited-edition releases and giant AI pans being “dropped” in parks (for social media content), has become a hit. Selena Gomez is such a fan that she worked on a special range.
Another migrant from fashion is Alyce Tran, who co-founded the leather accessories line The Daily Edited before launching In The Roundhouse, which creates pretty, whimsical homewares that are certainly not your grandmother’s china.
The idea took shape, says Tran (who created the line with friend Brooke Bickmore), when she owned The Daily Edited.
“When we styled events, I found it hard to find the right product that would create a moment for social media,” she says. “At the time there weren’t many brands that were speaking to the Gen Z and millennial market in this space and approaching tableware from a fashion perspective – that is, constant newness, many different styles and a level of accessibility. We jumped in.”
The range, stocked on its own channels and through David Jones, has collaborated with fashion companies like Sportscraft, and prides itself on quirky design. “I think about what I’d love myself,” says Tran. “The idea is to keep things new and fresh – just like fashion.”
