For long-time admirers of artist Laila Gohar, the opening of Gohar World’s first store in New York City offers anyone the chance to step into one of her fantastical experiences. Gohar, who made her name by creating installations melding food with art, design and fashion, founded the fun and whimsical tableware brand with her sister Nadia in 2020, and now brings her quirky eye to everything from ornate candles in the shape of profiteroles and rolls of salami, to embroidered lace tablecloths and black, ribbon-festooned satin bags for toting around baguettes. She also featured in the recent Wallpaper* USA 300 guide to creative America.
Welcome to the Gohar World holiday shop
To bring the Gohar World holiday shop to life, the Gohar sisters called on Rafael Prieto. The designer is the founder and creative director of design studio Savvy, as well as the founder of Casa Bosques, an experimental chocolate company and bookstore specialising in art-focused literature in Mexico. He also happens to be one of Laila Gohar’s closest friends.
She says, ‘Rafael and I are best friends. We’ve collaborated on several projects in the past and he felt like a natural fit. He’s very interested in relics and fossils and preserving culture through remnants of the past, which naturally ties into our Gohar World values of honouring tradition and craft. Our dialogue was very fluid. Rafael had this great idea to layer custom wallpapers, the outer layer being these massive arches which are torn away to reveal a hidden garden beneath them. Nadia and I have always felt that Gohar World is our secret universe, our hidden garden, but now we can welcome everyone in.’
The custom-designed wallpaper in the space features photographs that Prieto took of Eglise Saint-Honorat in Arles, France. Printed by Amanda Dandeneau and David Jiménez of Wallpaper Projects, the wallpaper showing the ancient and abandoned church is juxtaposed with the store’s scattered arrangements of furniture, like a dinner table and chairs, which will form the pedestals and platforms on which Gohar World’s goods are displayed.
‘Because Laila and Nadia work with ateliers all over the world, from Egypt to Italy, Gohar World is inherently a brand that transports you to different places. Sometimes, even to your grandmother’s living room,’ says Prieto. ‘So my idea when designing the store, was to transport visitors to another world, a monumental space. I wanted to recreate a space that, for me, is imbued with good memories, and repurpose [that] for Gohar World.’
Open until mid-January, the store will host unique showcases and events, ranging from the launch of the brand’s forthcoming ‘Table IV’ collection (including new porcelain and hair accessories) ahead of its being available online, to the chance to buy beloved pieces from past collections and one-of-a-kind vintage pieces, table-styling workshops, and personalised embroidery on linen products.
Laila says, ‘Gohar World is a very tactile brand. We make all of our product samples ourselves and design our collections via hand-drawn illustrations. The process is very analogous. It was always important for us to have a home offline and in the real world. All of our linen products are made with the highest quality Egyptian cotton, so we really wanted a place for them to be showcased in real life, where they can be touched and their quality can be felt. Our brand is experiential in nature, since our products are designed for everyday use in the home, so we wanted to invite people into our world to experience it in person. Our little planet.'
Gohar World Holiday Shop, 181 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10013
12 October 2023 – 14 January 2024
Monday – Saturday, 11am – 7pm. Sunday, 12pm – 6pm
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