Marina Cighir is the passionate creator of Aina Kari, who loves exploring the many ways of matching the most exclusive materials and Italian craftsmanship in a contemporary path to create unique decorative objects and candles. The brand was founded between Milan and Venice, the axis of Italian design. After many years working for well-known Italian brands, Cighir decided to return home and tighten the relationship with her territory-Treviso, a jewelry town next to Venice-focusing on the uniqueness of Italian heritage, creating objects that beautify and elevate our everyday life experience while also preserving the human connection with inspiring objects and subjects. Learn more about Marina Cighir in today’s Maker Monday.
This sleek and contemporary incense burner, named Vela, is a beautiful example of Murano glass. Entirely mouth blown, it unites the poetry and historical expertise of Venetian maestros.
Andrew Joseph: Describe your design style as if you were explaining it to someone who cannot see.
Marina Cighir: Unexpecting combination of materials like the translucent and fragility of Murano glass and silent monumentality of Italian Palissandro marble. A freedom of creation, where straight lines meet sensual curves, and smooth highly ground surfaces alternate the crude raw marble’s signature.
AJ: Are you a good cook? If so, what’s your specialty?
MC: Quite well, here in Italy, food is a religion. In the morning we talk about what we eat for lunch, at lunch we talk about what we eat for dinner and starting with Wednesday what will be on the menu for the weekend with friends – meat or fish? red or white wine? A never-ending Italian story.
Black Moon, a candle holder, evokes the phases of the moon as it is opened and closed. The lid and the container allow the stratifications of sedimentation to emerge from the lines of the stone, which come together each time it is closed.
AJ: What would your dream project or dream client be right now?
MC: An intimate gorgeous restaurant wishing to use, as a table centerpiece, our Stravedamento piece for a “never seen before” candlelight dinner. Would love to. Fingers crossed, we have already received some requests.
AJ: What’s one ingredient you put in everything?
MC: Pepper. Don’t need sugar, life is sweet enough.
Palissandro marble embraces dual Murano glass twists in this intricate candlestick holder for a one-of-a-kind of Italian design piece, named the Hug.
AJ: What’s inspiring you in life (in the industry) right now?
MC: Places where I live- each time I take the boat to Murano island, each element like “briccole” -a framework made of 2 big wooden poles tied up together and sunk into the water to mark out the waterways- could be for me a new candlestick holder design piece.
About the Maker | Aina Kari’ stands on three fundamental pillars: Italian craftsmanship, sustainability and bold material combination. These three notions guide the research, the experimentation, the creation and the manufacturing of the designs. Fluid lines are enhanced by vibrant Murano glass colors in contrast with the roughened and finished satin of the marble. From Crevola query in the heart of Ossola Valley to Murano Island to highlight the excellence of Italian artisans, where the silent monumentality of marbles brightly embrace the fragility and elegance of Murano glass artifacts.
Aina Kari is designed to tell a story; one that celebrates both tradition and contemporaneity in art, design and craftsmanship, while making zero compromises on the sustainability of its ingredients and its production processes. Aina Kari proudly bears the Butterfly Mark Certification by Positive Luxury, a testament to a truly sustainable business.
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