Kavazo, located in Banani Road 11, owned by business partners Zareen Tasnim Omar and Nur Elahi Razin, is quickly becoming synonymous with artisanal desserts among the Dhaka crowd, leaning towards the French-inspired style of premium pastries.The shop boasts delicious treats that are carefully curated and created to appeal to a more rarified palate, or if you are just someone who enjoys a sweet tooth. The outlet is beautifully and tastefully designed by Sudeshna Shireen Chowdhury and Nazila Mehnaz of Studio.O.
Zareen Tasnim Omar has been baking since she was eight years old, had a passion for creating new desserts, trying out the new combination for flavours, and always dreamed of having her pastry shop. She and her business partner came up with the idea for a premium dessert café that also sells coffee. The research and development for the shop took time and it was just when the pandemic hit that the duo decided to launch the cloud kitchen for Kavazo. The response, even during pandemic times was overwhelmingly positive and it was only fair that Kavazo had its shop in the heart of Banani once the pandemic was dying down. Zareen contacted Studio.O to help her achieve her vision for her dessert shop.
Finding an appropriate location, especially in Banani Road 11 was a feat in itself. The spot opened up as the previous establishment closed down during the pandemic and Team Kavazo jumped on that opportunity. The location is ideal as one can drive by it when using the Banani Bridge to enter. The elevated location ensures that it is viewable from the road, from inside the car. Therefore, the lighting of the store played a huge part in this as being a well-lit store with tall glass windows on all sides ensures that people driving by can look inside and be intrigued to come in.
Whilst deciding on the menu for Kavazo, Zareen wanted to incorporate flavour combinations she liked and thought that they worked well together. For example, the choux pastry took almost a year to perfect and 6 more months to teach to her staff. She even took customer feedback into account and introduced the Black forest Mousse, which is the typical black forest flavours reimagined. All the desserts at Kavazo are individual pieces rather than in the traditional style. Even the flavours are fancier, such as their Hazelnut Mousse, the Pinacolada Mousse, the Peanut Praline Tart and many more. Sudeshna Shireen Chowdhury, principal architect at Studio.O clarifies that the Kavazo design was a team effort with her partner and in-charge of construction management Nazila Mehnaz. Zareen had a clear vision of what she wanted the shop to look like, and Studio.O did their very best to fulfil that requirement. The client had a very clear concept ‘Simple er moddhey gorgeous’ and Studio.O did a beautiful job of fulfilling that. The colour theme for the shop is done in black and white with gold accents, a timeless and sophisticated look that never fails to mesmerize. The shop covers about 350 sq ft; therefore, space management was of the utmost importance. The shop is covered in glass windows that allow maximum natural light to illuminate the store. There are three framed backlit mirrors to one side to make the shop look bigger than it is. There is a small black marble table with stools that act as the only seating options, as the shop is too small to have a proper seating arrangement. But the pièce de résistance is the island display case that sits in the middle of the store.
The island display case is one of a kind, as it needed to be made specifically for Kavazo.
The island display case is paired with a beautiful lighting piece.
