How We Curate Our Spaces: Nadia And Laila Gohar’s Family-Inspired Dinner Parties
In our series on interiors, we ask designers and tastemakers to open the doors of their most-loved spaces, and share the stories and inspirations within it. Here, NADIA and LAILA GOHAR, the creative sisters behind tableware brand Gohar World, tell us how their New York dining areas are inspired by their Cairo upbringing. By KATIE BERRINGTON
The dining space in chef and artist Laila Gohar’s open-plan Tribeca loft occupies most of the apartment, which is mainly one room, largely because of her penchant for hosting. “I am the cook [in the family] so my hosting style definitely centers around big meals,” she says. “I love throwing parties and inviting friends, family and people I work with. It’s always very eclectic and thrown together, but in a style and with a vibe that’s very me.”
The centerpiece of the area she has designated for dining is a sculptural table made by Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis, surrounded by vintage Josef Hoffmann chairs. “Sabine is a friend and she gifted the table to me after we worked together on a project. It seats 10 people, 12 if you squish, so it’s great for gatherings,” says Laila.
Laila enjoys playing with scale, proportion and materials across the apartment, with the aim of creating an aesthetic that feels “generous and inviting”. Another of her favorite pieces to utilize when she has people over is a stainless-steel Willy Rizzo coffee table that has a Champagne bucket built into it. “You can put ice directly in and then a bottle of Champagne,” she says. “A big comfortable sofa is also important to me, especially to fit all my family… I’ve had a lot of my furniture for a while, and it’s come with me to several apartments I’ve lived in.”
With her younger sister, Nadia, Laila has imbued her love of hosting into Gohar World, which they describe as a “tableware universe that embraces craft, time, tradition, and humor”. “I think our table-setting styles are similar in that they’re considered, but never too precious,” says Nadia of why setting up the brand together has worked so well. “We use our [Gohar World] linens every day and aren’t afraid of stains.”
The elegant and irreverent linens “feel unique yet classic, so they go with both contemporary and vintage designs,” says Laila, who combines pieces from her brand with objects she has collected. “I love to mix in table accessories, like our Dessert Stems, with glassware that I’ve collected over the years. I like the way the materials look together.” A perfect dinner-party setting for Laila is usually completed with flowers, “and sometimes, at the end of the meal, I serve fruits on ice, which I really enjoy”.
Many of the sisters’ design inspirations and influences come from their upbringing in Cairo. “Our Egyptian fine-cotton linens are a key Gohar World offering,” says Laila. “Egypt has a huge cotton industry. Many of our linens are made in our grandmother’s sister’s atelier; she also makes school uniforms.”
Nadia has taken lots of production trips back to Egypt to “look for inspiration – from different fabric-weaving techniques to metalwork,” she says. For instance, “the Gohar World egg chandelier – a table staple for us – is inspired by metalwork seen in wrought-iron doors throughout the neighborhood where Laila and I grew up,” while the geometry and “swoopy shape” of the crumb-catcher is inspired by the curved architecture in Cairo.
Nadia is also based in New York, living in a 1920s Art Deco building, where she was drawn to the “beautiful detailing in the foundation of the space. I tried to follow its lines when adding furniture,” she shares. Like Laila, her furnishings are an amalgamation of pieces she’s collected over the years. “I think dark wood, metallics and red look good in any space.”
For both sisters, the feeling of home and family are central to their creative processes. “I love being home, whether it’s just with my family or with more people gathered around,” says Laila. “Although it’s very different, I feel as though [my apartment] has a similar energy to the house that we grew up in in Egypt, and that brings me lots of comfort and happiness.”
As for what makes her feel at her most ready to host, it’s “a bottle of Champagne chilling and a pot of something on the stove,” she says. “And a Gohar World drop-waist apron.”
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