The New York-based artist and chef and her sister Nadia have launched Gohar World, a tableware brand celebrating traditional artisanship with a sense of humour
When asked to describe the look and feel of her newly launched tableware brand Gohar World, artist and chef Laila Gohar refers to a fictional aunt she dreamed up with her sister Nadia. “She’s fabulous, maybe a little bit crazy, and has travelled the world. She’s had a really impressive career, and loves to entertain and have people over, and has collected beautiful pieces from all over the world over the course of her life.”
Fans of Gohar’s work will be familiar with her surrealist food installations and perfectly imperfect tablescapes, which evoke both the surreal mood of Marcel Duchamp and handcrafted intricacy of Louise Bourgeois – think metres-long lemon tarts, pearl-draped fruit and classical sculptures carved out of butter.
Gohar World captures the same spirit, while bringing people together at the table with impeccable style. Its current collection of 40 tongue-in-cheek objects includes a wrought iron egg chandelier, candy-shaped cutlery rests, and an ultra-lightweight balloon tumbler with a painted eye at its base. “Humour is really important for us,” says Laila. “Sometimes objects are so beautiful but when they’re too chic for their own good I kind of think it’s vulgar.”
At the core of the brand’s ethos is traditional craft and an intricate, maximalist sensibility, which separates it from the sleek, minimalist pieces crowding the homeware market. While working, Laila noticed that artisanal techniques like lacework, needlework and glass-blowing were disappearing from the space, and took matters into her own hands; with Nadia, she sought out craftspeople across Italy, Spain, Austria and their homeland of Egypt.
Many of these were family businesses. Take Laboratorio Paravicini, a Milan-based atelier run by a mother and her three daughters, responsible for making Gohar World’s ceramic dinner plates painted with trompe-l'œil beans.
Gohar World itself is, after all, a family affair. Besides Laila and Nadia, the brand is also the work of their grandmother and “ribbon queen” Nabila, who is responsible, among other things, for the hand-stitched bows adorning a sleek satin bag made specifically to house a single baguette.
“If it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t have been able to make Gohar World,” says Laila. “She hand stitched the bows in the collection herself after she couldn’t find anyone else who could do it exactly in the way that we wanted. She sent us a giant suitcase full of satin bows — it was really heartwarming and sweet.”
Discover Gohar World here.