Ghiora Aharoni Design Studio

04/03/2025

We’re thrilled to share that Ghiora has been invited by The University of Virginia to give a public lecture tomorrow evening, in conjunction with an exhibition which includes his work at The Fralin Museum . If you’re in the area, it will be wonderful to have you join us.
Objects, from the sacred to the everyday, resonate with energy and narratives, created by their use, as well as the intent of their makers, and he’ll be exploring that idea as well as the ways in which it has informed his work.

08/16/2024

We're thrilled and honored to share that Ghiora was invited to be the 2024 Belknap Visitor in the Humanities at Princeton University...the centerpiece is an endowed lecture intended to evoke the connection of art and ideas, transcending disciplines and geography. Princeton has just posted Ghiora's lecture: https://www.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/1449362/uiconf_id/52003512/entry_id/1_niyhe6kc/embed/dynamic
As part of a 40-year tradition that includes Richard Serra, Toni Morrison, William Kentridge and Meryl Streep—Ghiora's lecture explored, via his artistic practice and personal history, the malleability of text and time, interwoven with the often-complicated nature of social and cultural relationships.
Our heartfelt gratitude to Professor Esther Schor, Chair of the Princeton Humanities Council and Jeannine Pitarresi, Humanities Council Program Manager, for their superb stewardship of The Belknap Visitor Program, and for making it such an extraordinary, inspiring experience, which was co-sponsored by the Princeton University Art Museum, the Department of Art & Archaeology, the Department of Religion, the Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Program in Judaic Studies.

07/19/2024

Ghiora's personal Facebook and Hotmail accounts have been maliciously hacked. We’ve reported it to Facebook numerous times, though so far, Facebook is of no help. Ghiora can't access his accounts, and many, many people are getting messages from the hacker, posing as him, to invest in Bitcoin schemes. It is a horrible situation.

If you get any messages about Bitcoin or anything else suspicious associated with Ghiora's accounts, it is a hacker scheme. If there is anything you can suggest, please let me know. We feel helpless.

04/23/2024

Ushering in May with enormous gratitude to The World of Interiors, and writer Fred Bernstein for devoting his keen eye and precise prose to our latest residential project in the May issue. His observation that the studio's approach to the apartment's design was "driven by investigation" led him on a parallel exploration into the interplay of geometry, lighting, architectural history, built-in furniture and a limited palette, which he says "...celebrates not just the content, but also the container...which is now a courtyard, a Palladian villa, a Villa Savoye, even a Taj Mahal." Our thanks to Fred, as well as the WOI editors and the superb photographer William Waldron.

The World of Interiors FRed Bernstein

07/07/2023

Our gratitude to curator Marie-Eve Celio-Scheurer and the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva for inviting Ghiora to be an artist-in-residence, as well as to give two talks about his work and the ability of art and objects to create connections between cultures. His exploration of their collection—stretching from extraordinary Persian miniatures in the Pozzi Collection to Egyptian and Middle Eastern antiquities—culminated with an inspiring talk to the Friends of Museum that presented the intercultural narratives that resonate across the spectrum of the museum's collection.

07/05/2023

Paris…parting glances💙🤍❤️

05/21/2023

Venetian glimpses….

04/04/2023

As Passover approaches and the protests in Israel surrounding the government’s proposed judicial reform contine, the holiday's timeless narratives—of memory, compassion and perseverance in the face of adversity and oppression—take on a new dimension.
Reading the Haggadah each year—which relates Passover’s story of the future Israelites' Exodus from enslavement in Egypt millennia ago—is a reminder to each generation to see ourselves as if we are coming out of an “Egypt,” that the struggle to overcome obstacles is an ever-present, universal dynamic of humankind.
At this Passover—which commemorates new beginnings—a new, as yet unknown chapter is on the brink of unfolding in Israel, as well as other parts of the world…just as it was for the future Israelites after they crossed through the Red Sea. It’s a reminder that the human spirit possesses an indomitable energy when faced with adversity that exists outside of the boundaries of time or geography—and resides within the collective strata of humankind.

As the protests in Israel surrounding the government’s proposed judicial reform enter their 13th week as we approach Passover, the holiday's timeless…

03/20/2023

We're beginning the week on a celebratory note, sending a sculpture from The Road to Sanchi series to its new home in a private foundation collection in Switzerland. Our gratitude to the art handlers for their always meticulous work

12/18/2022

This year, the winter Equinox on December 21st–the day with the least amount of daylight, known as “the darkest night”–occurs in the middle of Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of lights. We might read that as a moment of cosmic kismet, where the solar and lunar calendars are counterpointed…or as allegorical evocation of the Hanukkah's essence, which is perseverance in the face of adversity, and light’s immutable persistence even when darkness is attempting to prevail.
We’re celebrating Hanukkah with the lighting of The Antiochus Scroll Menorah that incorporates the medieval scroll’s account of the Jewish revolt against Hellenistic oppression in the 2nd century BCE…which holds a particular resonance, as it was my family’s tradition as Yemeni Jews to read the Megillat Antiochus each year during Hanukkah.
The resonance of cultural nuances inherent in ritual and iconography is also central to the second menorah we’ll light this year in the studio, The Holy Sepulchre Menorah, where antique Kiddush cups from Jerusalem have been transformed into a menorah inspired by the glass lamps that were placed by a variety of Christian denominations in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The cups have been embellished with traditional Hindu and Yemenite silver ornamentation, creating an intercultural melding that evokes the collective nature of spiritual light that exists beyond the boundaries of geography and belief systems.
Wishing you a bright holiday season and a New Year suffused with an abundance of love and light—

Ghiora

12/01/2022

We had a spectacular morning with Navina Haidar, Curator in Charge of the Metropolitan Museum's Islamic Department, who joined us today and hosted a virtual studio visit for her department's supporters. Her insight about Ghiora’s artwork was an inspiring conversation that spanned the energetic identity of objects and icons, the notion of non-linear time as well as the universal threads—from rituals to creation narratives—that connect cultures. Thank you, Navina, for taking us on your own intricate tour of Ghiora’s work.

11/23/2022

The energy embodied in the symmetrical structure of Thanks—Giving is equal parts gratitude and sharing…this spirit, and the joy it can infuse in our consciousness, makes it one of our favorite holidays of the year. Wittgenstein wrote “There is an entire mythology stored within our language,” and the simple act of expressing or receiving gratitude, regardless of language, has an energy that can be transformative. We’re celebrating Thanksgiving with the artwork gratitude, in Hebrabic (a melding of Hebrew and Arabic) and Hindru (a melding of Hindi and Urdu)—combinations of languages that are connected culturally and geographically—to evoke the collective resonance of gratefulness, that exists beyond borders or languages. Happy Thanksgiving, with gratitude and light.