2Cookinn: Where Community Feels Like Home

Sometimes people ask me, “Why workshops in a kitchen shop?”

The answer begins long before 2Cookinn.

I was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the 1980s — a time when the city was alive with movement and possibility. Hong Kong had been shaped by waves of migration, especially families who had moved from mainland China in earlier decades. Many of my friends were children of immigrants. Their parents arrived with little, carrying hope, courage, and an incredible work ethic.

The city felt crowded, fast, and intense — but it was also full of dreams.

I grew up watching people build their lives from nothing. Small shops. Family businesses. Neighbours helping neighbours. Different dialects, different traditions, different backgrounds — all living side by side. Diversity wasn’t a slogan. It was daily life.

And somehow, in that busy city, there was always this feeling:

If we build together, we grow together.

That belief stayed with me.

When 2Cookinn Was Born

When I opened 2Cookinn in Campo de Ourique, I didn’t just want to sell beautiful kitchenware.

Of course, I care deeply about design, colour harmony, and selecting products that make kitchens both functional and beautiful. But what I truly wanted was something more human.

I wanted a space that feels welcoming.
A space where conversations happen naturally.
A space where people don’t feel like customers — they feel like they belong.

Community has been one of our core values from the very beginning.

 

When the Shop Transforms

Over the past months, something beautiful has been unfolding.

We started inviting talents into our space — artists, handcrafted creators, passionate makers.

Starting in January 2026, Soul Veda https://soulveda.art began hosting Mantra Art workshops at 2Cookinn. We have already completed two sessions. On 2 beautiful Sundays, we moved plates aside and replaced them with papers. We turned display tables into shared working spaces. We hosted workshops where strangers stood next to each other and, by the end of the session, were smiling like old friends.

In those moments, 2Cookinn becomes more than a retail space.

It becomes a living room for the neighbourhood.

Growing the Dream

For me, this is deeply personal.

Growing up in Hong Kong taught me that community creates opportunity. It creates resilience. It allows diversity to flourish. It gives people space to dream.

And now, here in Campo de Ourique, I see that same possibility.

2Cookinn is still a kitchen shop.
But it is also becoming a platform — a place where talents are welcomed, where creativity is shared, and where experiences are created together.

We intend to keep growing this concept. More workshops. More collaborations. More moments where the shop transforms into something unexpected and meaningful.

Because in the end, what we remember is not only what we bought.

It’s how we felt.

And if 2Cookinn can be a place where people feel connected, inspired, and at home — then we are building exactly what I always believed in:

A community full of possibilities.