Absurd tableware should go against all the rules of traditional styling. But there’s a sweet spot where odd meets elegant in Gohar World.

The eponymous label from Cairo-born, NYC-based sisters Laila and Nadia Gohar creates fantastical knick-knacks for beautifully bizarre tablescapes. The kind where candles shaped like gruyere cheese and salami sit next to plate covers weighted with chicken-feet pearls and gothic frou-frou bags designed to hold a single baguette.

There’s trompe l'œil dinnerware hand-painted to look like it’s covered in leftover beans or breakfast cereal. Tables dressed in shirting with collar and cuffs still attached. And if you fancy something for yourself, there are scalloped aprons, adult bibs and lace-lined rubber gloves for looking good while washing up.

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All of the oddities are designed by the sisters in their NYC studio and crafted by family-owned ateliers around the globe, from Vietnam to Turkey. Both siblings are artists: Laila works primarily with food as her medium, while Nadia is a painter and sculptor. Since starting Gohar World in 2020, they’ve gone on to collaborate with the likes of Dries Van Noten, Gucci, Byredo and Hay.

Beyond tableware, the sisters use their label to conjure a universe dedicated to the art of hosting. On the Gohar World website you can find a catalogue of recipes enjoyed as studio lunches and dishes cooked by the sisters when guests come around. It’s also where you can scroll through their eerily beautiful lookbooks: like Twin Peaks meets The Royal Tenenbaums in an old-school dining hall.

The Gohar World range is available online, priced in US dollars, and offers shipping to New Zealand. In New Zealand dollars, items start around $39 for a bobbin-lace bottle apron and go up to around $410 for an Egyptian cotton shirt tablecloth.

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