A STORIA DI CASTAGNINA

About us

Castagnina is a project that's been on my mind for as long as I can remember...

  • THE CASTAGNINA BRAND
    Although I don't make objects myself, I enjoy imagining and designing them with the help of designers. (...)"
    Vannina
    Creator of Castagnina
FIGLIOLA DI A CASTAGNICCIA

I grew up in Bastia, but like many Corsicans, I come from a small village in the interior.

Far from the sea, far from the city, it was here in Parata d'Orezza that I spent all my vacations. In the heart of Castagniccia, in the remains of this magnificent chestnut civilization, I dreamed, walked, drew and wrote. Hoping and despairing for this abandoned land.

For a long time, I nurtured a slightly nostalgic tenderness for chestnuts - as for Corsica. Then I understood and decided that nothing was finished, and that it was also up to me to keep this fruit alive, and everything to which it links us.

A DETOUR TO JAPAN

In 2007, more than 15 years ago, I went to Japan for a research project.

As chance would have it, it was during the autumn months that I discovered Kansai, its megalopolis and its countryside. And that's how I came to realize that chestnuts are adored, celebrated and happily modernized here! At the table, of course, in delicious seasonal dishes, but also to accompany the beauty of everyday life, as a motif elegantly declined in objects to be enjoyed all year round.

It took a long time for the project to mature, but everything happens, and I launched it a few months ago! And here is Castagnina, my little publishing house for Made in Corsica objects.

A FAMILY OF LOCAL DESIGNERS

It has to be said that over the last few years, I've done a lot of work on crafts and design in Corsica.

These are all fragile crafts, but they carry an ethic and a precious anchorage, as well as creative processes that mobilize the hand and the mind, the place and the use... For want of being able to make objects, I allow myself to imagine and design them, with the complicity of creators whose know-how and lifestyle choices I appreciate. 

Today, Castagnina is a family of eleven designers based all over the island: Jérémy in Bucugnà, Sandrine in Alandu, Manon in Cervioni, Mathilde and Marie in Corti, Damien in Prunelli di Casacconi, Pantaléon in Nucariu, Mélanie in Venacu, Coralie in Prunelli di Fiumorbu, Noémie in Patrimoniu, Anne in Curbara... and more to come!