Curious People
October 2024-present, Hobby-BusinessCurious People is my own venture, born as a hobby business and still evolving. Through catering, pop-ups, and a product line, it shares regional Indian food with Stockholm residents. At the heart of every experience is an unapologetic commitment to the food, its traditions, and the emotions attached to it.
BACKGROUND
Design a full dining experience — not just a menu — that carefully represents regional Indian food and challenges Western perceptions of it.
CHALLENGE
The core challenge was one of translation: how to capture years of lived experience — the rituals, meaning, ingredients, flavours, smells, and logic of food from where I grew up — within the span of each event’s evening, while actively breaking the stereotypes and perceptions about Indian food that have persisted in Sweden for years. The project is housed at a cosy plant-based café, Cornershop in south Stockholm, which means working within existing constraints on interiors and seating rather than designing a space from scratch.
SOLUTIONS
I approach each event through a facilitation lens, designing the experience end-to-end rather than focusing on food alone. This meant curating the menu alongside decor, plating methods, music, and printed maps & menus, and layering in small nudges and details throughout — including naming dishes as they're known locally in India rather than westernising them. Language, sound, and smell are treated as active design elements, normalised as part of the experience rather than softened for a Swedish audience. Reflection questions and dish descriptions tracing the history and evolution of each dish are often woven in to deepen engagement beyond the plate.
10
700+
dishes sold
events organised
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Hålla koll på Cornershop, min favvo i närförort, igår genuint indiskt käk som var värd väntetiden.
— Customer at an open event
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Everything was absolutely delicious - everyone kept talking about how great the food was! It was also so much fun to learn more about your culture and your story. You didn’t just cater the evening, you really helped make it unique and special for all of us.
— Corporate Catering Client
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The food was outstanding, can’t wait for the next event.
— Customer at a ticketed event
