FOOD IS A FORM OF LANGUAGE
Kitchenware firm fosters conversation, change beginning at the dinner table
There are few better places for making connections with people than the dinner table.
That's because food — from every culture, and on every part of the planet — is a form of language, says Shiza Shahid, founder of Our Place (fromourplace. com), which designs and sells kitchenware designed to make cooking at home — in modern, multi-ethnic kitchens — simpler, and more fun.
“Food connects you to your body, your health, your culture, your food systems, your farmers, your traditions, your memories,” says Shahid, whose lengthy accomplishments in what she refers to as “impact” work includes starting and running the Malala Fund (malala.org), an international non-profit organization that fights for education for girls founded by Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai.
Just launched in Canada, the Our Place lineup includes “evergreen” essentials like glasses, plates and bowls — all of which are sold separately, or can be bundled into a set with the multi-purpose Always Pan.
There are also limited edition collections from artisans from around the globe.
Pricing is accessible: a set of four hand-painted porcelain plates, nesting bowls, and handblown stackable glasses, and the Always Pan, sells for $290. (All prices USD. There's a $10 shipping charge per item, as well as taxes. Duties included.)
The more voices there are at the table, suggests Shahid, the richer, and more enlightening, the conversation.
“I am an immigrant. I have lived in many different parts of the world,” she says. “I very much found my place in the world by cooking and sharing food. In this moment when there seems to be a rise of xenophobia and fear of the other, the mission to bring people together feels even more important.”
This venture will seek to do that through an ethical business lens, because while Shahid believes in the power of non-profit work, she recognizes that the trillions traded in the financial markets every day are hugely influential.
“To solve the word's most pressing challenges, we need all the institutions, all the sectors, all the industries to make better choices. That is what we are trying to do at Our Place,” she says.
Those choices include going carbon neutral, using recycled and plastic-free materials for packing, and seeking out women-owned factories as suppliers. It also means using their public platform for advocacy, which recently included getting out the vote through vote.org, running videos on its site, and funding a complementary billboard campaign in battleground states.
So far, they're good choices. The team is expanding, and there are new product launches expected for just about every month in 2021. Our Place has been featured on Good Morning America and Today, as well as in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and included in a Fast Company innovation list.
The icing on the cake: the Always Pan was named one of Oprah's “favourite things.”
The pan, like all Shahid's products, was designed in Los Angeles, with a development team that Shahid describes as “a mix of expertise and out of the box thinking.” It was their first product, conceived after Shahid's husband and co-founder, Amir Tehrani, suggested the notion the well-equipped kitchen needed a dozen pans was outdated.
“He wanted one that did it all,” she says. “It took about two years to design.”
The final product generated a 30,000 wait-list and a #worththewait Instagram tag. For my review of the pan, go to aroundthehouse.ca
The overwhelmingly positive response to Our Place housewares doesn't just lie in the handcrafted quality, or the thoughtful design, says Shahid.
“People are drawn to the sense of story and discovery, from wanting to create community and connection. There's a familiarity everyone can relate to.”