NANAI

NANAI designs and furnishes homes that support connection to people, the planet and ourselves. We believe that a rich inner life is a life well-lived.

Home goods + good homes.

10/26/2026

We’re honored to collaborate with Jason Contreras Jason | Sow the Land on an architectural detail that holds special meaning to both Chile and Appalachia: a lattice roof of bent wood that will shade our patio.

In Chile, shaded structures like this are called a parrón. They’re often draped in grapevines, offering a place to gather outdoors with protection from the strong sun.

Our first idea was to replicate the woven wattle fences found across Appalachian communities, a technique that dates back to Neolithic times. Jason had the brilliant idea of using strips of wood instead, for a more modern look. The result reminds us of a woven basket.

Next spring, we’ll plant native wisteria and passionflower to grow overhead. We can’t wait for the day when flowers and fruit hang above our outdoor dining table like a living chandelier.

Slide 3: Illustration from the Ruralia Commoda, by Petrus de Crescentiis, written around 1305 in Bologna, Italy. The agricultural treatise focuses on the cultivation of garden herbs, detailing more than 130 plants used for medicine and nutrition.

10/18/2026

Nanai means comfort. Wrap yourself in wool for the cooler days, woven by hand in southern Chile.

Photo by: Ana Scaparone | Italy Mexico Wedding Photographer

10/05/2026

Y’all, big news: we just opened a storefront in downtown Asheville!

The Fields and Friends shop is a collaboration between friends Fields Outfitting and NANAI. We’ve been quietly soft-opening and pulling out all the stops to make it spectacular before telling you all about it.

We’re so excited to finally have a space to welcome you. Come by, hang out, and stay for a cafecito.
Our grand opening celebration is next Sunday, October 11. More details coming soon, can’t wait to see you.

Special thanks to , Alex Crane and styling/ seller for all of your help in making this dream come to life.

09/21/2026

This weekend:: We’re celebrating harvest season with our friends on Haywood this Saturday. We’ll have a new batch of wool textiles and plenty of bakeware for the season of roasting & braising. 🍂 Come by and say hi!

09/16/2026

Project Update: The siding is up on Casa Catalpa, and our house is starting to feel like home.

We love the way the dappled light moves across the pine and cypress boards and how the tone of the wood shifts throughout the day. It gradually warms with the movement of the sun — from cool, bright hues in the mornings to deep and golden tones in the afternoon.

Natural materials have a way of changing with their surroundings. They weather, patina, catch the light, and tell you a little more about where they are.

If you’re curious about building a home with natural materials and a strong sense of connection, we’d love to hear from you.

09/11/2026

Feliz viernes, amigos.

This week was full of gestures that reminded us of a principle from permaculture design: “integrate rather than segregate.” Essentially, living things flourish in the company of other living things.

It’s easy, especially right now, to feel like we’re all out here on our own. We’re not.

Whatever you’re making, dreaming, worrying about or trying to keep alive: There are people out there who want to help. Sometimes they’re just waiting for an invitation.

Wendell Berry was a fierce opponent of individualism. “Community is the smallest unit of health,” he wrote.

Thank you for being in community with us. Don’t stop making your art, your gardens, your prose, your music. Your health, our health, and the planet’s health depend on it.

Photos 1&2 by Julieta Fumberg - Photo and Video

09/01/2026

The first six months of NANAI have changed our lives.

Our apartment office is lined with shelves and packaging material. Dinner takes longer than usual because I’m painstakingly taking photos of greda with my limited camera skils. We learned how to file sales taxes.

It’s changed the shape of our days. We’re on the phone with artisans, daily. We’re out in the community meeting with collaborators and sharing our wildest ideas out loud because, as we say, “dreaming is free.”

So much care goes into this little business, from the artisans in Chile, the friends and family who help pack shipments, and from Felipe and me, who are continuing to dream and design for the future. Thank you for being here with us.

X Cass

08/21/2026

Greda, à la Mode (a haiku)
Sultry late summer
A creamy, frozen reprieve
Cradled cold in clay.

Our greda pottery is oven- and flame-proof – and it also keeps things cold. We just added bundled bowls to the shop, making it a little easier to start your own stack.

08/05/2026

Past is present — and future — in this adaptive reuse project.
Geodesic domes may visually read as futuristic, but they actually take a page from history here Western North Carolina. At Black Mountain College in the 1940s, architect Buckminster Fuller developed and refined the dome concept as part of his vision for “doing more with less” to solve global housing and resource crises.
That spirit of retrofuturism, of looking back to look forward, is the inspiration to our approach for the redesign of this property in the heart of downtown Old Fort. The existing structure, an old brick house, will become the main building of a boutique lodging experience, with a lobby, lounge spaces, and sauna.
We’re now entering the next stage of design, translating ideas into layouts, materials, and artistic details. More to come as the project takes shape.

07/22/2026

Artisanal craft has the power to change the way we see the world.

Because once you understand what craft is, you begin to see the life in everything.

Address

Asheville, NC
28801-06, 28810, 28813-16

Website

http://www.nanaihome.com/

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