Stylish cookware brand Our Place will make you want to spend more time in the kitchen

Food brings people together and one brand that celebrates that to the full is [Our Place](https://www.fenwick.co.uk/brands/our-place/home-and-tech/kitchen). Founder Shiza Shahid has captured the hearts of culinary tastemakers worldwide with her revolutionary multifunctional cookware.

As Pakistani immigrants in America, Shiza Shahid and her husband felt the need to create Our Place in 2019\. They were driven by their shared love for food and the connections it fostered. Their mission was to create beautiful and hardworking cookware that looked great and brought people together.

“Our products are not just highly innovative, they are also beautiful artistic objects that elevate any home,” she says. “They are made to be displayed, not to be hidden away in cabinets. That’s why they are beloved by interior designers and fashion lovers.” However, this is not Shahid's first successful venture. On her journey, she has embraced various roles, including student activist, refugee camp volunteer, start-up funder, and, notably, co-founder of the Malala Fund. Working alongside an inspiring team and a vibrant community, Shiza Shahid considers it her greatest privilege to build connections every day. Below she shares her inspirations, her design process and why she attaches great significance to creating shared meal moments.

##### **How did the concept of Our Place come about and how has it evolved?** We started Our Place because we wanted to get more people breaking bread together, and creating connections across the table. That’s why we make kitchenware that actually makes cooking easier - that is also sustainable and non-toxic - so that we can all spend more time sharing meals and making memories. ##### **How do your products celebrate home cooking?** We celebrate home cooking by designing better products for home cooks. While many other cookware brands sell bulky, cluttered cookware sets that are hard to use - we make multifunctional products that do way more with less, and actually make you a better cook! It’s rooted in our product innovation promise - from our proprietary non-toxic coating Thermakind® that’s made without ‘forever chemicals’ to our beautiful signature colours that look great in any home and inspire you to cook more. ##### **How do you express yourself through cooking?** I express my love through feeding people. It can be as simple as a fried egg on toast, or a full family dinner made from scratch - what matters is making something with our hands and sharing it with people we love. That’s what Our Place is all about

##### **Nothing brings people and communities together like cooking and sitting down for a meal - how is Our Place contributing to those shared moments?** At Our Place we celebrate all our home-cooking traditions: Pancake Day, Diwali, Easter, Christmas, Eid, and Lunar New Year (the list is infinite!) loudly and proudly. We encourage people not to seek perfection in cooking, but to optimise for connection. Home cooking can be messy and imperfect, and still be delicious and joyful. Our products are designed for how we live, connect and celebrate making (and breaking) traditions with family: given, chosen, and found. ##### **We are coming over for dinner, what can we expect from you as the host?** You can expect a lot of delicious food, a beautiful table set with Our Place’s Tableware and Always Pan, low vases and candles to set the vibe without blocking anyone’s faces, and we’ll be playing a round of Let’s Dig In - Our Place’s dinner party conversation game designed for deeper connections across the table.

##### **And what are you cooking for us?** I’m cooking my mother’s chicken karahi (tomato chicken stew), my husband is making the tahdig (Persian crispy rice), and we’re whipping up a Califronian citrus salad with farm-to-table ingredients from our Sunday farmers market. ##### **How would you describe your interior style?** My interior style is a fusion of earth tones, textured fabrics, pops of colourful prints, and hand-crafted, meaningful objects. We have pieces collected from all the places we’ve lived and travelled around the world - it’s a celebration of our cultures coming together. ##### **For anyone discovering Our Place for the first time, where should they begin?** We recommend starting with our Always Pan and Perfect Pot as your first set. Also, I’d add on some of the accessories for even more multi-function: like our Spruce Steamer