ONE PAN SERVES ALL

THIS COOKWARE COMPANY CATERS TO MULTIETHNIC KITCHENS WITH SUSTAINABILITY IN MIND

Less is more when it comes to cookware crowding the cabinets and countertop—and pieces should be suitable for multiethnic kitchens.

That’s the business model cooking at Our Place, the direct-to-consumer kitchenware company that set out to diversify the average cookware market with items that replace up to eight pots and pans into one multipurpose piece.

“We make products that connect people over cooking and eating together, that are designed to make cooking more simple and joyful rather than technical and intimidating,” says Our Place co-founder and CEO Shiza Shahid.

Plus, she says, customers respond to products “because we designed them to represent the diverse cultures, values, and food traditions of the modern-American kitchen.”

Shahid, who co-founded the Malala Fund with Nobel Prize winner and activist Malala Yousafzai, set out to make kitchenware more accessible and easy to use by streamlining the traditional eight-piece cookware set and condensing it in a way that serves multicultural cuisines. Her husband, Amir Tehrani, the company’s co-founder, has a background in cookware and the kitchen business. Together, the company marries Shahid’s social activism with business, bringing commerce to communities across the globe and highlighting artisans behind their products.

The most Instagram-famous of the collection is the Always Pan, in its eye-catching pastel pinks, blues, and sages that can cook up breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s a steamer, a strainer, a saute pan, a sauce pan, a saucier, a skillet, a nonstick pan, a frying pan, and a place to rest your spoon, perhaps, between sips of wine while you cook. The pan was such a hit, it reportedly had a 30,000-person waiting list when it first launched in 201 .

It’s deep enough to make sauces, shallow enough to flip an egg, has an easy pour spout and modular inserts like a stainless steel steamer basket fit for cooking a simple omelette, a pot of marinara, Spanish tortillas, dal, and dumplings.

“The intention behind the Always Pan was to make it simpler and more joyful to cook at home,” Shahid says. “You have everything you need in one.”

Then there’s the Perfect Pot, which comes with a built-in strainer, a roasting and steaming rack, and a self-basting lid perfect for boiling, baking, and crisping.

Partnerships with artisans from Thailand, China, and Mexico are also key ingredients in Our Place’s recipe for success. Cookware is made in collaboration with home cooks, artists, designers, and human rights leaders. The Always Pan, for example, is made in a female-owned factory in China, “which we chose because of its highquality craftsmanship and commitment to team ethics,” the company says on its website. Consumers can see where their products are coming from and who is making them.

The brand is also committed to sustainability. While most cookware leaves behind a trail of cardboard, plastic, and plastic foam after it’s unboxed, Our Place uses biodegradable packaging that comes sans bubble wrap.

In March, the brand rolled out a Traditionware collection inspired by Iranian cooking techniques with a Tahdig Trio—a three-piece cookware set named after the crispy rice dish. And Shahid’s trip to the Indus Valley Civilization in Pakistan inspired a terra-cotta-colored iteration of the Always Pan, a nod to the thousands-yearold terra-cotta cooking vessels, she says.

If there’s anything Shahid hopes home cooks will take away from her functional kitchen tools, it’s an excitement to discover new foods and flavors through one multipurpose, melting pot.

“We believe in the power of home cooking, and that sharing a home-cooked meal is foundational to connection,” she says.

Our Place kitchenware is multipurpose and meant to facilitate cooking from di erent cuisines from around the world. From pots to pans to steamers, you can cook almost anything imaginable in them.