Laila Gohar, known for her surreal food sculptures, has moved into homeware design and is working with global artisans to help preserve "dying and disappearing" crafts, she tells Dezeen in this interview.
Gohar, who runs the Instagram account Lailacooks, was born in Egypt and studied in the US. The designer is best known for her creative food installations and projects that blend design, food and art, which she produces at her studio in New York.
Top image: designer Laila Gohar. Photo is by Roe Ethridge. Above: she launched the Gohar World collection with her sister. Photo is by Jeremy Liebman
Among Gohar's recent pieces are a swan sculpture made from artichoke leaves and towers of potatoes and eggs cast in resin, the latter of which were made together with artist Robert Anthony O'Halloran and shown as part of the Alcova design platform at Milan design week. "Every project I do is different," Gohar told Dezeen. "That's really one of the biggest pleasures of my job ? I can do different things all the time."
Gohar showed potato sculptures at Alcova in Milan. Photo is courtesy of Alcova
Though she never studied to become a chef, Gohar has always had an interest in food and previously worked in restaurants.
"At some point, I knew that [the restaurant industry] wasn't the place for me but at the same time, I wasn't going to design school to learn how to make a chair," she said.
"So it was this kind of in-between [career], and it took ...