“While Designing a Kitchen, I Need to Feel the Space Talking to me; If Not, I Must Wait for Some Inspiration.”
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“While Designing a Kitchen, I Need to Feel the Space Talking to me; If Not, I Must Wait for Some Inspiration.”
July 11, 2022
Nadir Cassamo owns Leiken, a distribution company for kitchen and furniture products with its own showrooms in Portugal and a presence in Angola, the UK and Mozambique. At a deeper level, he remains a designer who also not just showcases and markets a product, but also has the know-how and training.
Nadir Cassamo, born and bred in Lisbon, is an intuitive designer. Based in the picturesque Algarve region, where his company Leikin has just set up a new showroom, he insists that designing a kitchen is like a research project and needs the same energy, dedication and involvement.
As late as less than almost two decades back, when he focused on Portugal’s kitchen scene, he realised that customers, in general, were not buying kitchens in a systematic manner but were relying more on bits and pieces of design, selecting cabinets for appliances and placing hot and wet areas almost at random. With his background in the interior design market, the contrasts were notoriously glaring.
Form, function, and ergonomics lead to a good design. Photo Courtesy: Leiken
Nadir’s eye for design was keen, even as a teen, when he dabbled as a sales assistant at one of Lisbon’s major furniture showrooms. Ensconced in the aura of design, his talent was noticed, and he got his first real commitment to design a residence when he was barely 16 – that too, with hardly any formal education in the subject!
After his graduation from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, he worked at Roche Bobois, the design studio, for a while and co-owned De Divina Porportione - an eclectic interior design showroom in one of the most prestigious areas of Lisbon, the Chiado. This showroom was even showcased by Architectural Digest.
Today, Nadir runs his own design company and showroom, Leiken, which is one of the country’s leading lifestyle showrooms, focused on kitchen space. This is where he directs his energies, talent and attention.
In a tete-a-tete with Kitchen Ideas, he reveals his ideologies on kitchen design.
Materials and mechanisms can be mixed well, and art orientation can be added along with a warm feeling of love for the house for the perfectly designed kitchen. Photo Courtesy: Leiken
How important is design and functionality for the kitchen interiors?
For a long time, design and functionality were not such a huge concern for end consumers, despite them splurging on expensive equipment and appliances. Indeed, much has changed lately, but the fundamentals for a good design remain. The honest and committed designer has to provide clients with not what they want but what they need. ‘Wanting’ is a vague aspiration; it has to be defined and conveyed succinctly to the client that ‘liking’ certain aspects are merely a guideline for a beginning.
I am aware that at first glance this idea seems rather cocky. But, the truth is that 99 percent of the customers come with pre-conceived ideas regarding their dream kitchen, extensively influenced by media and the latest trends.
It is vital to consider dividing the space into food storage, cooling/fridge, preparation and cooking areas, plating area and washing up/dirty area and general storage. Photo Courtesy: Leiken
Some designers tend to copy designs from lifestyle magazines. What is your take on this?
Fashion trends play an important role in the final look of a kitchen as desired by clients, but it comes into play in the final stage of kitchen planning.
I usually tell my clients that I am here to sort out a problem or give shape to their dream, but invariably they come to us initially with a solution. To put it crudely, sometimes they want an aspirin for cancer.
While training my commercial and design team, this is always the first aspect I draw their attention to. If we follow the ‘Yes Sir’ road, the majority of the time, we will fail to do justice to our assignment. In other words, it is important to focus on the customers’ needs instead of their wants.
In recent decades, the kitchen gained importance in house design. This is due to the sociological changes in modern society. Following the latest trends, people are more aware of proper food needs. Not just a chore, cooking has always been an art, and recently it is becoming a fashion that more people want to engage in. Molecular gastronomy and the precision required for the preparation of a lot of recipes have brought focus on the quality of the tools one uses. Fine house-dining caterers and private chefs are now an active part of planning and designing upper-class kitchens. A chef requires functionality on the unit’s modulation layout, preparation and cooking areas exactly according to his needs.
Planning and bringing the accessories and flow systems accordingly to the customer’s daily routine is primary to the design. Photo Courtesy: Leiken