Meet Greg Hex | CEO Aura California, Traveler, Cook, Culinary Enthusiast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Greg Hex and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Greg, what are you inspired by?
At the heart of it, Aura California was born of the belief that cooking is an act of love and a way to connect with others, creating meaningful experiences, sometimes out of everyday practices. California is rich with resources, ingredients and spirit – so the products we choose to create should reflect the place we come from, physically and spiritually.

We believe in the idea that conventional instruments can be both beautiful and functional. They can turn the mundane into the magnificent. To this end, we make knives that can outperform in a professional kitchen and still be admired in a generational home.

Our brand observes the heritage of design and craftsmanship by making century old tools with modern techniques. This is a reflection of the California identity where tradition and innovation thrive together. It is also the place where luxury and sustainability can coexist harmoniously.

Above all, the inspiration was to transform the way people experience food. Aura California knives are made for those who celebrate flavors, cultures and the joy of making something extraordinary with their own hands.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Aura California reflects our desire to honor the tradition of connection and making memorable experiences. While the literal function of a knife is to divide things or split them apart, our knives are intended to bring people and places together. Perhaps that’s our form of artistic juxtaposition.

I am an avid traveler and culinary enthusiast. Getting to where I am today has been a long and winding road. I was born in Durban, South Africa, raised along the Indian Ocean, before moving to Southern California and living most of my adult life here in the Los Angeles area. By design and good fortune, I have managed to visit all 50 US states at one time or another. This, along with traveling extensively around the globe, connecting with people and enjoying cultural and culinary events gave me an ever increasing appreciation for food and it’s preparation – while it exists regionally, it has the power to bring us together globally. The best and worst times in life are almost certainly connected in some way with food or the lack of it.

I became particularly interested in how people from all over the world use food from a community perspective and how they choose to prepare and consume it. I learned to make fires and cook at a young age and I’m fascinated to watch people cook and interact with food in their own environment. Every culture enjoys a coffee, makes wine and bakes some sort of bread. All of us grow something, all of us raise something, all of us cook over live fire. We all celebrate special occasions and religious holidays with food. I like to learn and I like to participate in the process. Through family origins and willing wandering I’ve pretty much tried my hand at everything from growing sugarcane to keeping bees, catching rainwater to making beer, harvesting mollusks and crustaeceans from the sea to cooking whole animals over live fire. I think it’s fair to say i’ve invested fairly heavily in the notion of food as a universal activity.

Aura California has made our participation in this realm intentional. The process has become a symbol act to be a part of the narrative and keep us attached to the value of connecting through food and all the aesthetic sensibilities that come with it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The Los Angeles metropolis is a huge tapestry – it’s impossible to show off in a lifetime, let alone one week. But as it turns out we just did a week like this with a group of very close friends for a special occasion. It would begin with an all day BBQ at our home as this is a gathering place. Our home is designed to host family and friends, for good times, music and community cooking.

We have a large, Argentine style, outdoor parilla which we designed and built ourselves, along with a myriad of other culinary cooking contraptions. So, fires would be lit and you would be smoking meat, grilling fish and shucking oysters before long, helping yourself to a Smog City lager or a Lost Coast Downtown Brown Ale from the tap as you go. One of us would return from the farmer’s market in the marina with an incredible array of California vegetables and produce. Those would transform into colorful salads and salsas or in turn make their way on to the iron for roasting and grilling. It’s an all day affair. By the time you left our house after a week you may have eaten everything from several renditions of global BBQ to a fish braai (look it up) to a low country boil or a even a scorching Durban curry.

They won’t all be early mornings but a few of them anyway would lead us out of the house before sun up in search of waves to surf. You might find a bag of Randy’s donuts in the car next to your coffee on the way past the airport. If we’re going North it’s a breakfast burrito at Lily’s in Malibu and if it’s South then you can find a good one at Nick’s in Seal Beach. It the waves are bad then we’re probably enjoying Mexican beers and seafood in the sun at County Line (Neptune’s Net) or Ballast Point and pondering our next move. No surf whatsoever could mean breakfast at the Old Kings Head in Santa Monica and watching a rugby test match (born in South Africa remember) while we’re at it. You can always opt to spend the whole day at the beach – with a picnic and a fire pit. Sometimes we return to the marina and sunset cruise the water with cheese and wine.

Hard to beat a sandwich sometimes for lunch and we have a lot of good ones around LA. Those could include the Godmother at Bay Cities, Busy Bee Market if we’re crossing the harbor or the Pitmaster sandwich at Ray’s in Huntington Park on your way in or out of Downtown. We love the roast beef sandwich and Saratoga chips at Santa Anita when we’re watching the ponies run. Since there’s “no such thing as west coast pastrami” you’re not leaving town without the best pastrami sandwich ever from Langers Deli and for a completely unique experience we’re hanging out at Joe Jost’s in Long Beach for a special, some picked eggs and a game of college football. There is no way to explain “the sandwich” at Roma market in Pasadena so we just go. And no trip to California is complete of course without a Double Double.

Night time is game time. If it’s the Kings or Lakers we’re dining at the Pantry before hand for a club steak, fried potato, slaw with bread and butter. Dodger dogs are a rite of passage at the Ravine, and no game in here ends without the inimitable LA street dog. Get it with “everything,” always with everything.

When our home teams are on the road it’s time to dine out. Steaks and libations never go out of style at night. Great steaks in dark and comfortable places include the Golden Bull and Dear Johns. Old school LA hangouts tend to have strong drinks and fishtanks. Use that as a guiding light. The best steak in town is at Chef Curtis Stone’s Gwen on Sunset Blvd. It’s aged i plain sight, cut on site in their butchery, grilled over live fire. Best of all, you get to cut and eat it with an Aura California steak knife, hand made by us, in this beautifully appointed art deco establisment.

Music is all over LA. There are so many venues to choose from. We are usually seeing a friend’s band in one on a thousand small venues which means late night tacos no matter where you are. You could live a lifetime in LA and not experience all the tacos this city has to offer. You should try to nonetheless. The same can be said for sushi. Many of the city’s finest restaurants are sushi restaurants. Otherwise, some late night food and banter at the Rainbow Room never fails to deliver a good night amount friends. The Hollywood bowl would be “the venue” if you could only choose one however. Its history and majesty are unmatched, perhaps anywhere. A night like that might mean Soho House afterward, some legendary speakeasy’s and a night in a Hollywood Hotel to prevent any driving in the equation. This also gives way to a lazy Sunday at a rooftop pool with views that stretch to Catalina.

Time to get out of town for a couple of days. Surrounded by a thriving agricultural industry, we spend a day at a local food festival. Usually hosted on a wine farm, olive grove or quintessential California ranch, these events are filled with the most incredible food, drink, music and people. It’s a time to unwind and relax or sometimes lend a hand. Aura California is often a vendor at events like this.

From there we cannonball run out to Palm Springs. Two days in the desert, around the pool or stargazing in Joshua Tree. Perhaps a night of rock & roll in Pioneer Town.

Finally it’s home again to pack their bags. A final night BBQ at the house before we’re off to LAX in morning – but not before enjoying breakfast once more at the Chowder Barge. It’s LA’s only floating restaurant, its the scene of many movies and if you don’t know where it is, you’ll never find it.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My partner in life and business, Diane Koehnke is COO at Aura California. Diane on this journey with me. She is a kitchen designer by trade, with a deep understanding of materials, color theory, dimensions and construct. She turns complex ideas into visually appealing functionality.

We have enjoyed the support of the food industry – all the way from farmers and growers, right through to chefs, retauranteurs and consumers. They have guided us encouraged us, and provided the backdrop from which we learn and grow to be a part of their greater community.

Our family. They have long since celebrated with us around kitchen tables and live fires. They have tested everything we’ve made, eaten everything we’ve cooked and still managed to smile along the way. They support everything we do.

Website: https://auracalifornia.com

Instagram: @auracalifornia

Facebook: Aura California