The Always Pan is one of those products that seemed to be everywhere at once.
Soft colors, a slightly odd all in one shape, and a marketing push built almost entirely on social media.
It turned Our Place from a small startup into one of the most recognized names in home cooking.
Behind that pastel branding is a fairly ordinary global manufacturing story, one that shoppers do not always think to ask about.
There is also a bigger fight happening across the entire nonstick cookware category right now, one that touches Our Place’s biggest rivals directly.
Before getting into any of that, it helps to know who actually built this brand.
So let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Where Are Our Place Products Made?
Our Place products, including the Always Pan, are manufactured primarily in China, with additional production in Mexico and Thailand for certain product categories, according to Our Place and independent brand research.
The Always Pan and the brand’s Essential Ceramics line are mostly made in China, in factories that specialize in nonstick ceramic coatings and metalwork.
Our Place has stated that it selected a specific factory partner in China that is female owned and operated, citing the facility’s craftsmanship and ethics as reasons for the choice.
The product itself was developed in Los Angeles, where the company is based, but design and manufacturing are two very different things, and the physical production happens overseas.
Who Owns Our Place?
Our Place was founded in 2019 by Shiza Shahid and her co founders, and the company remains an independent, privately held business built around its direct to consumer sales model.
Shahid, who is originally from Pakistan, has spoken publicly about learning to cook after moving to the United States to attend Stanford University.
She has described Our Place’s mission as being about celebrating different cultures through cooking, drawing on her own experience and that of her husband as immigrants who found community around the dinner table.
The Always Pan itself took about two years of development before it launched.
Where Did Our Place Come From?
Our Place launched in 2019 with a single hero product, the Always Pan, designed to replace several traditional pieces of cookware with one multi use pan.
The brand built its early growth almost entirely through direct online sales and social media, skipping the traditional retail rollout that older cookware brands relied on.
That approach worked well, and the company has since expanded into a broader range of cookware, bakeware, appliances, and tableware.
Our Place has since opened some physical retail presence as well, moving beyond its purely digital roots.
How Our Place Sources Its Manufacturing
Our Place relies on established overseas factories with specific expertise in ceramic nonstick coatings and metal cookware construction, rather than manufacturing in house.
China remains the primary country of production, particularly for the Always Pan and the Essential Ceramics line, because of the concentration of experienced ceramic coating factories there.
Mexico and Thailand handle production for certain other product categories within the Our Place lineup, giving the company some geographic diversification beyond China.
The company has publicly framed its choice of Chinese manufacturing partners around quality and ethical labor practices at the specific factory level, though it has not published extensive independent audit data confirming those claims.
Does Our Place Claim Made in USA?
No, Our Place does not market its cookware as made in the USA.
The company is transparent that its products are designed in Los Angeles but manufactured overseas, primarily in China.
This distinction between design origin and manufacturing origin is common in the direct to consumer product world, where companies frequently develop products domestically but manufacture at scale in Asia to keep costs manageable.
Shoppers specifically seeking domestically manufactured cookware would need to look at different brands, since Our Place does not position itself that way.
Our Place vs Caraway: Who Makes Each?
Our Place and Caraway are probably the two most talked about names in the direct to consumer ceramic nonstick cookware boom, and both compete heavily on the same premise of stylish, nontoxic cookware.
Caraway, founded in 2019 by Jordan Nathan, also manufactures its ceramic coated cookware overseas rather than domestically, similar to Our Place.
The bigger difference between the two brands right now is not manufacturing location but marketing and legal exposure.
In February 2026, Groupe SEB USA, maker of T-Fal and All-Clad, and Meyer Corporation, maker of Farberware, Rachael Ray, and Anolon cookware, filed suit against Caraway in the Southern District of New York, according to reporting by Fortune, accusing the brand of false advertising over claims that traditional PTFE coated nonstick cookware is toxic.
Our Place has not been named as a defendant in that lawsuit, but it competes in the same nontoxic positioned category and could face similar scrutiny of its own marketing claims going forward.
Myth Busting: Is Our Place Cookware Actually Nontoxic?
Our Place markets its cookware as free from PFAS and other so called forever chemicals, a claim shared by several competitors in this space, including Caraway.
The ongoing lawsuit against Caraway centers on whether marketing that calls competing PTFE cookware toxic or cancer causing is factually supportable.
According to the lawsuit, the American Cancer Society has stated there are no proven risks to humans from using PTFE cookware, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission has rejected calls for warning labels on PTFE based cookware.
That does not mean Our Place’s own PFAS free claims are false, since ceramic coatings genuinely differ chemically from PTFE coatings, but it does mean shoppers should treat toxic versus nontoxic marketing across this entire category with some caution rather than taking either side’s claims at face value.
What Is Next for Our Place?
The biggest story shaping the ceramic cookware category heading further into 2026 is the Groupe SEB and Meyer lawsuit against Caraway, which could set a precedent for how nonstick cookware brands, including Our Place, are allowed to market safety claims going forward.
Eight US states have already moved to ban PFAS in cookware, a regulatory trend that has helped drive interest in ceramic alternatives like those sold by Our Place.
Caraway has said it plans to keep pushing back publicly against the lawsuit, describing it as an attempt by larger, established cookware companies to slow down a smaller challenger brand.
Our Place has not been directly involved in the litigation, but the outcome will likely affect how the entire nontoxic cookware category, Our Place included, is allowed to talk about its products in the years ahead.
For more brand supply chain breakdowns like this one, see our guides on Caraway Cookware and All-Clad.
Frequently Asked Questions About Where Our Place Products Are Made
Is the Always Pan made in the USA?
No, the Always Pan is designed in Los Angeles but manufactured in China.
Our Place has said it chose a specific female owned and operated factory in China for the Always Pan and its broader Essential Ceramics line, citing craftsmanship and ethical labor standards at that facility.
The company does not market any of its core cookware as made in the USA.
Does Our Place manufacture anything outside of China?
Yes, while China is the primary manufacturing country for Our Place, particularly for the Always Pan and Essential Ceramics products, the company also sources some product categories from Mexico and Thailand.
This gives Our Place some geographic diversification in its supply chain, though China remains the dominant manufacturing location overall.
Is Our Place involved in the PFAS cookware lawsuit?
Not directly, no.
The lawsuit filed in February 2026 by Groupe SEB USA and Meyer Corporation names Caraway Home as the defendant, accusing it of false advertising over claims that PTFE coated cookware is toxic.
Our Place was not named as a party in that specific case, though it markets similar PFAS free positioning and operates in the same competitive category as Caraway.
Who founded Our Place and are they still involved?
Our Place was founded in 2019 by Shiza Shahid along with her co founders, and the company remains privately held.
Shahid has remained a public face of the brand, speaking in interviews about the company’s mission around inclusive, culturally minded cooking.
There is no indication of a change in Our Place’s ownership or founding leadership as of 2026.
I am Jack Neel, a mechanical engineer, researcher, and writer. I created this website to share my knowledge about different brands and products with you. I research the manufacturers behind the brands and provide you with the information you need to make smart buying decisions.