Community Highlights: Meet Diego Aureggi of Finka Unika

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diego Aureggi.

Hi Diego , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always been driven by the intersection of creativity, culture, and impact. My journey began in 2017 when I launched Piece Unik, a platform dedicated to reducing waste in the fashion industry by collaborating with upcyclers, artists, and sustainability advocates around the world. What started as a niche project quickly grew into a movement—an underground culture built around one-of-a-kind, art-driven garments that challenged the traditional fashion system.

Over the years, I curated shows and experiences that broke convention, from transforming a theatrical play into a runway during NYFW, to collaborating with designers globally, to organizing auctions that funded real-world impact, including an ambulance and medical kits for Kyiv. Piece Unik evolved into a hub for emerging talent, a home for artisanal expression, and a bridge between creativity and purpose. Today, it continues to promote artists and designers through capsule collections, events, and creative partnerships.

More recently, my path has expanded beyond fashion and into something deeply personal: reconnecting with nature and understanding how creativity can thrive alongside sustainability in the most literal sense. This led to the creation of Finka Unika, a sustainable circular farm we’re building in Colombia.

Finka Unika is designed to function on two levels. On one hand, it will operate as a self-sustaining agricultural project—growing our own coffee and exporting natural products from Colombia such as panela and other healthy alternatives. On the other hand, it will become a creative hub, a place where artists, designers, and thinkers can come to create, collaborate, and find inspiration immersed in nature. The vision is to seamlessly integrate ecological consciousness with artistic production, fostering a community rooted in both sustainability and creativity.

From Piece Unik to Finka Unika, my mission remains the same: to build systems and spaces where culture, creativity, and sustainability reinforce each other—proving that when we rethink our relationship with resources and with each other, we can create a more beautiful and responsible world.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Like most startup journeys, ours came with its fair share of challenges—especially building something in fashion and creativity at a time when those sectors aren’t nearly as “hot” or heavily funded as tech. One of the biggest obstacles has been access to capital. A lot of the projects and collections we’ve curated have been completely self-funded, either by myself or by our community.

In one sense, that’s been empowering. It’s made us incredibly independent and given us full creative freedom, which is rare and something I truly value. But it has also created this constant tension between building something that’s passion-driven and ensuring it’s financially sustainable. At the end of the day, growth is essential for any startup—creative or not—and figuring out how to scale while staying true to our mission has been one of the hardest parts.

Finding artists from all over the world has been both a challenge and a success. It takes time, intention, and trust to build a global creative network, but we’ve managed to do it in a way that feels authentic and community-first.

And now with Finka Unika, we’re stepping into a completely new world. It’s truly a jump into the unknown—agriculture, circular systems, exporting natural products. But that’s exactly what excites me about entrepreneurship: facing challenges I’ve never experienced before and learning directly on the field. This new chapter connects deeply with everything we’ve done so far, just expressed through nature, sustainability, and a different kind of creativity.

We’ve been impressed with Finka Unika, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Finka Unika is a sustainable circular farm and creative sanctuary based in Colombia, built around the belief that nature and creativity can—and should—coexist seamlessly. At its core, Finka Unika is an agricultural project focused on cultivating high-quality, locally rooted products such as coffee, panela, and other natural resources that offer healthier, more authentic alternatives to what many people consume daily. But beyond that, it’s a vision for a new kind of ecosystem—one where sustainability, culture, and artistic expression come together.

What makes Finka Unika unique is that it’s not “just a farm.” It’s a space designed to evolve into a creative hub where artists, designers, and innovators can come to learn, experiment, and create while being fully immersed in nature. We want to show that environmental responsibility and artistic production aren’t separate worlds—they can support and elevate one another.

Our specialization lies in building circular systems:

We focus on growing and exporting natural Colombian products ethically and transparently.

We’re developing a self-sustaining model where resources are reused, waste is minimized, and the community benefits from every stage.

And we’re building a residency-like environment for global creatives to work alongside local farmers, artisans, and storytellers.

What I’m most proud of, brand-wise, is that Finka Unika represents authenticity. It’s not a polished concept built in a boardroom; it’s a living, breathing project created from a desire to reconnect with nature and uplift the creative community through real, tangible resources. Everything we do comes from passion, purpose, and a deep respect for Colombia’s land and culture.

If there’s one thing readers should know, it’s this: Finka Unika isn’t just a place—it’s an invitation. An invitation to rethink how we engage with the earth, how we support local ecosystems, and how creativity can flourish when it’s grounded—literally—in nature. Whether it’s through our coffee and natural exports, our sustainable farming practices, or the future creative residencies, our mission is to create a model that is regenerative, inspiring, and globally connected.

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is experiences—living a life without regrets. I’ve seen how some people go day to day solely for a paycheck, prioritizing security over growth or adventure, and I understand that choice. For me, especially in my late 20s, the focus is on stepping out of my comfort zone, meeting as many different people as possible, and immersing myself in experiences that expand my perspective.

Much of the work I’ve done, from building Piece Unik to starting Finka Unika, has been guided by that philosophy. I’ve taken risks, some of which haven’t worked out, but others have opened doors I never could have imagined. What drives me is the belief that leaps of faith taken for the sake of passion—even without knowing exactly where they’ll lead—are the hardest, yet ultimately the most rewarding decisions. If there’s one message I hope my story conveys, it’s that trusting yourself and embracing risk can lead to growth, discovery, and a life full of meaning.

Pricing:

• 100% Organic Colombian Coffee – 1KG 35$/ 500G 20$/ 250G 10$
• Panela (Healthy Alternative to Sugar) – 200G 9$

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/finka.unika/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-aureggi-2752ab138/