Aura

  If you’re looking to upgrade your knives, Aura, a California based company has created knives that match technical specifications. They are beautifully crafted with a California Burl wood handle and a stainless-steel edge allowing for an ultimate kitchen experience. The 3D handle structure was developed by experiences of chefs worldwide guaranteeing the users comfort. We spoke with the founders of Aura and they told us more about the knife brand. 

What is the story behind the origination of the brand? 

The aura is the atmospheric essence generated by an object--I sought to make kitchen knives with that vivacious quality. At the time I began making knives, everything available to the consumer was rudimentary and utilized out-dated designs for mass production. We wanted not only to create custom quality kitchen knives, but to radically modernize their designs, and to innovate methods of producing them. Examining the physiological mechanics of humans wielding kitchen knives, we've designed your knife to feel like an extension of your hand and wrist. Studying techniques used in the aerospace industry, we developed our recipe for concocting and cooking the strongest, lightest, precision knife steel. The feather in our logo is a nod to that influence. And I had a parrot named Aura when I was in culinary school. 

A product they would like featured and a comment or story about it? 

The color of the California Buckeye handle is 100% natural. This blue-grey hue is not a dye, but a mineral stain left by micro-organisms when the timber has cured on the forest floor for a year or more. It's like the blue cheese of wood. 

If you could describe your brand using three adjectives, what would they be? 

Modern American Heritage 

Fun fact about the brand/founder: 

I've been living and breathing fire and steel my whole life. I wanted to be a Chef since I was a kid, and got an early start apprenticing after school in hotel kitchens. School was not for me, and growing up in California, the only part of school I enjoyed was surf class. My knife-making came as a necessity to my days as a line cook in fine-dining establishments. My working life has always been centered around my passion for the kitchen.  
 

If you didn't start your company, what would you be doing? 

I think I would be working at a Michelin restaurant somewhere in Europe. 
 

Quarantine lifesavers? 

My 4 year old niece gave me an octopus kite for Christmas--I cannot begin to explain how much fun I've been having with it. FaceTime, cooking, and getting out on the boat have been lifesavers too.