Dream team of Ukrainian design and their yellow-blue colors. Sadolin: Careful, painted!

Oleksiy Iskos, Iskos Design

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Oleksiy has been living in Denmark since 1991 and built his career as a designer there. When Oleksiy came to Ukraine after a long break, having already become a star of world design, he began to participate in collaborations with Ukrainian manufacturers. One such project is the Real Time watch, created by Oleksiy for ZAVOD, which is currently preparing to launch on Kickstarter.

Alexei:

During the entire period of my life in Denmark, I had to explain where I was from. About the fact that Ukraine is not Russia, Kharkiv is not Krakow. Now there is no need to explain anything. Everyone has seen the photo of the destroyed buildings in my city and knows where it is. Similarly, a year ago, few people had heard of Ukrainian design, but today there is a huge interest in the whole Ukrainian culture in the world. The reason for this is tragic, but at the same time it is an opportunity worth taking. Many people understand this, and I see various projects emerging that promote Ukrainian design in New York, Milan, and hopefully soon in Copenhagen.

I remember how 6 years ago there were many discussions about the national identity of Ukrainian design — where to look for it, on the basis of which traditions to build it. In my opinion, identity cannot be found, defined and constructed. It emerges (or does not emerge) by itself from a collection of individual designers and their understanding of the world around them. And it seems to me that exactly this process is happening right now: everyone is doing their own thing, in different ways, but in the general context, from this, the concept of "Ukrainian design" is gradually born.

Three years ago, I designed a wristwatch for the Ukrainian brand ZAVOD. I had never made a watch before and it was extremely interesting. We were going to launch the project in the spring of 2022. But war came instead of spring. I mentally buried the project, but at that moment it did not seem important. Only a few weeks passed, and colleagues wrote that they were ready to continue, no matter what. Then we were almost ready in November, but the electrical problems started and the launch had to be postponed again. I hope that it will work out in May. And I have already heard many such stories. It seemed that the world fell apart and life stopped, but some time passes — and Ukrainians begin to do their own thing again and move forward. It's impossible not to admire it, and it inspires faith that everything will work out in the end. There will be talented designers, there will be Ukraine, and there will be Ukrainian design.

Kateryna Sokolova, Sokolova Design, Noom

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Read the article "Katya Sokolova and the color of ivory. Sadolin: Careful, painted!”

Kateryna Sokolova is one of the most successful Ukrainian designers. Her items are produced by international brands Driade, Roche Bobois, Forestier, Bolia. Six years ago, Kateryna, in partnership with designer Arkady Vartanov, launched her own brand Noom, which creates minimalist and at the same time emotional things.
After February 24, 2022, the designer and her family temporarily moved to Lviv. She made a lot of efforts to relocate production, as well as to maintain the trust of customers. Despite all the obstacles, the brand has grown over the past year and presented several novelties at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, including Guta vases, which were inspired by the traditional technique of working with glass, characteristic of Lviv craftsmen.

Katerina:

After February 24 last year, my work took on a new meaning and importance. At Noom, we strive to prove that design can change the world, convey meaning. The designer works not only with form and materials, the designer works with storytelling.

In the spring of 2022, we developed a special model of our Gropius chair using camouflage mesh. The idea of ​​this object is to show the world how life is divided into before and after. We have presented this project at several international exhibitions and plan to continue showing it this year. This is our contribution to the information war, because you need to talk to people of art in the language of art.

Our company, like all Ukrainian brands, faced difficulties due to the war, but it only strengthened us. We focused on work that is of real importance to our country, moved production from Kharkiv, established new logistics chains and continue to work in this direction.

I am convinced that Ukrainian design can give the world a unique perspective and new ideas based on our cultural heritage, history, strength of spirit and motivation to become better and constantly develop. Through my own projects, I tell the world about Ukraine in the language of design. About the fact that we are a modern creative country with a great future. We learned and learned our lesson, understood our mistakes, and in the future we will no longer allow manipulations, we will take back our history and all the talented Ukrainians appropriated by Russia, including Kazimir Malevich.

 

Olga Bogdanova, Bogdanova Bureau

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Read the article "Olga Bohdanova and her green. Sadolin: Careful, painted!”

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Olga was on a business trip to the facility in Dubai. The bureau had individual facilities abroad, but most of the work was done in Ukraine. When construction in the country stopped, and part of the team moved to different European cities, they decided to focus on foreign projects. The first to be sold was an apartment in Warsaw for a Polish family that lived in Ukraine for a long time. The family wanted to engage Bogdanova Bureau for the design of their apartment in Kyiv, but the war forced a change of plans, and the project was already implemented in Poland. Currently, the bureau projects in Milan, near Paris and in Switzerland.

Recently, the Bogdanova Bureau team presented a social project — the concept of restoring the Makarov dispensary.

Olga:

A year ago, it was difficult to think about design, because it is not a primary need. They were motivated by social projects, such as the concept of restoring the Makarov dispensary. Last March, its building was destroyed by a direct hit by a Russian missile. What remained was a large pile of debris and about 16 patients from the surrounding villages, for whom it was necessary to restore the medical facility as soon as possible. The KSE Foundation offered the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Kyiv Military Regional Administration assistance in rebuilding the dispensary. We were invited to join at the stage of creating the concept. Now is the time when professionals from different fields unite for good causes. Everyone shares knowledge and invests their own time and experience for a common goal.

We plan to participate in competitions for restoration projects in the future. We want to see as many open ideas as possible, to interpret our reality creatively and consciously.

Perhaps the profound changes that have taken place recently are difficult to see from the outside. But they exist, and they are reflected in our work, where the search for content comes first. In every request from the client, we first try to answer the question "why", and only then build beauty around this answer.

While creating projects abroad, I noticed a feature that distinguishes Ukrainian designers. We are very picky. To yourself, to people, to partners, to the smallest details. It is a relentless search for perfection under completely less-than-ideal circumstances.

It is felt that the total amount of energy in the country has changed, it has become more. Overwhelmed with emotions, Ukrainians are already presenting an unreal number of interesting projects on the best international platforms. I hope that this energy will be enough to play for a long time, and the world will see a lot more interesting things from Ukrainians.

We started the project "Careful, painted" in partnership with the Sadolin brand in September 2020. The concept of our interviews: one hero - one color. Conversations are not only about paints, but also about the author's philosophy and current life circumstances

Volodymyr Nepiyvoda, Dmytro Bonesco, YOD Group

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Read the article "The color of iodine and the YOD Group. Sadolin: Careful, painted!”

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the studio was forced to close the Kharkiv office because the city became dangerous. Most of the employees from the Kharkiv team still work remotely from different Ukrainian cities. The Kyiv part of the studio was temporarily relocated to Lviv.

Commercial interiors in Ukraine suddenly came to a standstill. In order to keep the team and support the economy, YOD shifted the emphasis to foreign orders, in which they already had considerable experience. Subsequently, projects in the western part of Ukraine were updated - the institutions, work on which began several years ago, were opened during a full-scale war. Over the past year, YOD Group has designed several large-scale facilities near Lviv and Bukovel, created the design of a teahouse in Kyiv, as well as several restaurants in Dubai, Berlin and Los Angeles.

Volodymyr:

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we gave a number of interviews to Western media, design and architecture portals: we talked about the situation, that we are open to cooperation. Our portfolio, as well as a collection of international awards, demonstrated the level of design. The goal was to hold on and stabilize the studio, and we succeeded.

At some point, the administration of an orphanage from Kharkiv turned to us. They found premises for their wards near Chernivtsi. Our task was to think through the zoning to accommodate living rooms and classrooms for a hundred children of all ages. It was necessary to work quickly, the children were waiting, and Kharkiv was shelled daily. We created a functional project for their tasks, and also suggested how to arrange recreation areas in the yard. Now the orphanage is working, the children are safe.

We also conduct volunteer activities: together with our partners, we send cars, drones and equipment to our friends in the army. It is an ongoing process: there are requests, and we respond to them. We do our job so that they can do theirs better and safer.

Several years ago, we formulated the concept of "terroir design". It's like in winemaking, when local characteristics affect the taste and aroma of wine. We started to create projects, the design of which reflects the local features of the region: its nature and cultural background. We used this approach in our work on Emily Resort and continued it in HAY Boutique Hotel. In these projects, we showed Ukraine without stereotypes and templates. For us, Ukrainian design is modern solutions that embody the author's understanding of traditions and authentic symbols. The world appreciates such projects, we see it through international publications and competition wins.

Several years ago, we formulated the concept of "terroir design". The design of our projects reflects the local features of the region: its nature and cultural background

Dmytro:

Over the past year, our projects have been awarded a number of important international awards: Deep Bar in Dnipro won the prestigious British Restaurant&Bar Design Awards, Terra restaurant received the grand prix of the Swiss LIV Hospitality Design competition, won the Best of Year Design Awards and made it to the finals of a specialized American competition Hospitality Design Awards. In another category of the same competition, our HAY Boutique Hotel is competing for victory, and next to it in the same nomination is a hotel created by the cult modern designer Patricia Urquiola in Rome. It is important for us to compete at this level and see our own projects in the world top of commercial design.

Sometimes it is difficult to realize that our previous projects exist in the same reality: the 7 Goats bar was smashed and looted in Mariupol, The Village and Gastronaut restaurants remained in occupied Berdyansk.

Dmytro Sivak, Sivak+Partners

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Read the article "Dmytro Sivak and his gray. Sadolin: Careful, painted!”

A designer for whom the past year was not only a year of external trials, but also of global internal changes. A native of Odessa with a witty blog and a considerable audience of supporters in Russia met the beginning of a full-scale invasion of his hometown. Dmytro realized that his world would no longer be the same as before, and switched to Ukrainian. To expand his vocabulary, he reads Ukrainian authors every day, writes posts and records videos in Ukrainian. A significant part of the Sivak+Partners team left abroad at the beginning of 2022. However, the studio continues to work remotely from the office. The main focus of the work is foreign projects.

Dmytro:

It may turn out that after the war we will fall into a pit of bad taste for several years, because there simply will not be enough good designers for the huge volume of work that is and will be.

In order for Ukrainian design to give something to the world, we need those who will make it. Despite the fact that many people are waiting for the end of the war and want to return, unfortunately, many talented designers do not plan to return ever.

There is hope for a reaction and help to the designers of society. After all, what used to look like just bad architecture, like another anthill and chaotic construction of the city, is now perceived as an attack on culture. There were too many examples in the first days of the war, where the trail of Russian investors and other indifferent foreigners trailed behind the terrible buildings. These people were ready to build anything in our country for the sake of their own profit, and nowadays such construction is becoming more and more associated with an attempt to destroy Ukrainian culture and is perceived more and more acutely.

And if you are a Ukrainian developer and really love Ukraine, please prove it with deeds, not slogans.

I remember, 20 years ago, the inscription "Made in Ukraine" made me afraid to buy this product.

10-15 years ago, he caused sympathy, but it no longer seemed scary, even wanted to help, support the manufacturer.

I want that tomorrow, when looking at the "Made in Ukraine" label, a person knows that this is a sign of good quality.

So that you pick up a thing and not be able to tell whether it was made in Vapnyarka or in Berlin, such a well-made product.

So that a foreigner would not choose between a design studio from Ukraine or India, focusing only on a low price, but would not be able to decide between France, England and Ukraine, because he would know that in each country a highly professional project would be made for him.

Such a feeling cannot be evoked in people tomorrow. But by doing his job well, even while sitting abroad, every Ukrainian can change the perception of our products in the eyes of foreigners every day. You only need one thing for this: to do your job well every day.

In the first interviews of the "Caution, Painted" project with Sadolin, among other things, we talked about the pressure of the current restrictions. And in our last conversations, one of the common topics was the war in Ukraine. The theme of design and color remained unchanged

Oksana Dolgopiatova, Dolgopiatova Design

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Read the article "Oksana Dolgopyatova and her black Sadolin: Careful, painted!”

The beginning of a full-scale invasion of the hostages of Oksana on a foreign trip. After several moves, she settled in Milan. The experience of living and working in a new country caused a complex personal transformation and gave an impetus to develop and master new professional tools, learn new programs. After a long break, Oksana resumed remote work on several "pre-war" projects in Kyiv. She also leads several new projects in England and Montenegro.

Oksana:

The experience of living abroad destroyed my prejudice about remote collaboration. During this year, I learned to emotionally transfer myself and direct my own energy as if I were physically at an object hundreds of kilometers away. So I managed to take remote photographs of two Kyiv objects that were completed during the war. It turns out that online can be just as productive as offline if you learn how to manage your attention and time.

A year ago, I walked around Milan Design Week with a sense of hopelessness and the lack of meaning of this exhibition for me personally. I was sure that the designer in me had died. But here I am again in Milan and design week has just ended. My perception is completely different not only compared to last year, it is different even against the background of previous years. I have come to realize that it is important for me to see personally, and there is no desire to cover as many locations or stands as possible. I choose only practical solutions that I will work with all next year and a little inspiration. To sail on, realizing that design is infinity, unlike war.

I was most impressed by the Ukrainian CONTINUUM project, which can certainly be put on the same page as the works of the world's most famous designers. Victoria Yakusha, Iryna Jus and other Ukrainian visionary designers presented works with meaning, sense of context, style, incredible talent and titanic work behind it all.

All this time I was wearing jewelry from Denis Music. I never get tired of answering questions and compliments, telling foreigners about the talented Ukrainian jeweler.

In my opinion, developed nations no longer remember how their cultural identity was formed. They passed this stage many centuries ago. But they can look at us and remember the price of that identity archived in their history.

When I meet someone, I proudly say that I am a designer from Ukraine. This is important to me. And people, especially those in context, react, “Wow! This is a country of cool professionals!". And I say to myself: "Well, Dolgopyatova, now you need not to be ashamed!".

I have a wonderful client who says this about me: "On Tuesday, my Kyiv designer from Milan will fly to us." Kyiv designer from Milan! No matter where I live, I remain a Kyiv designer.

Yuriy Zimenko, Zimenko Interior Design

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Yuri continues to live and work in Kyiv. It was work that became for him the comfortable space that helps to distract from difficult experiences. However, creative endeavors and subject design are now on pause. After all, for creative freedom, Yuriy needs emotional comfort and immersion, which is impossible to achieve when there is a war in your country.

Yuri:

I have always understood the value of time, but now that there is an awareness that in one moment everything can be destroyed, time has become even more important. I strive to do my best every day, without postponing rest, joyful meetings, work or the realization of ideas and plans for tomorrow. The demands on oneself have also increased — there is a desire to work hard and produce an even better result.

Pleasure became the main motive of my work. Satisfaction with the process from my side and satisfaction from being in the space from the client's side. It is interesting that this joy is not proportional to the scale of the project. That is, it is no less in small objects. There is no greater joy than sharing this pleasure with a client.

I think that after the war, many people will reevaluate their lives: they will want to dress brightly and elegantly, live in comfort and beauty. We have all felt that life will not last forever and we should enjoy it today.

Although I have yet another change — the projects I am working on now have become more minimalistic. My characteristic decorativism has given way to clean volumes, in which there is nothing superfluous. Maybe because you don't want to scatter your attention, to be distracted from the view outside the window and the contemplation of nature.

The requirements for Ukrainian design are the same as for French or Italian design - it must be high-quality, professional, and carry interesting ideas

Today's world attention to Ukrainian culture and design is an advance. The requirements for Ukrainian design are the same as for French or Italian design: it must be high-quality, professional, and carry interesting ideas. Designers need to do even better and create even better things to live up to this credit of trust. Not only to exploit traditional elements, embroidery, Hutsul ornaments or images from Prymachenko's paintings. It is important to create new recognizable products, to conquer the world with modern Ukrainian ideas.

I wish that after the war, people would listen to creative experts and in no case treat reconstruction projects in a formal way. They did not restore ugly and worthless objects, but reinterpreted them. After all, instead of depressing housing development, in the same time and with the same budget, you can build a different, happier life for people. For this, it is worth involving our best architects, who will help not just to restore the functionality, but to do it better. Now is the time when you should think about a comfortable infrastructure with entrances, bomb shelters, parking lots and the optimal distance between buildings. It's time to build in such a way as to improve people's quality of life.

Oleg Volosovsky, loft buro

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Read the article “Loft Buro and their red. Sadolin: Careful, painted!”

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, when it was unclear where it was safer and where to run, Oleg took two fellow designers with two cats to his house in the Kyiv suburbs. Together with his neighbors, he organized a local defense unit consisting of 10 men and three pistols. They were on round-the-clock duty and prepared to meet the enemy with Molotov cocktails. For female designer colleagues, they equipped a secret hiding place under the stairs and agreed that in the worst case they would hide there.

Oleg:

Immediately after the beginning of the Russian invasion, the workload of our office with Ukrainian projects was approximately 10–30%. To keep the team, we needed work. It was also important for us to provide work for our partners and contractors - furniture manufacturers who closed their factories and did not understand how to proceed. We convinced them to return to Kyiv to expand production and resume work. Because we are, we are working and we will not give up. I am convinced that a good architect is one who can adapt to new circumstances and direct knowledge and experience for the benefit of his own country.

We managed to get some projects thanks to my wife Olena, who was on a business trip abroad before the very beginning of the invasion. Our friends from various European countries also helped.

MOD.ua modular furniture, created by Loft Buro in cooperation with Ukrainian manufacturers. From the first days of the war, we used our skills, our craft, developing social projects. We designed CAMPUS modular houses for displaced people, providing for their delivery to the site and easy assembly. They also designed the MOD.UA line, beds for the military, and proposed a project to rebuild the bombed State Administration in Mykolaiv.

We've got everything ready for launch and ready to go. The only question is whether the state, our government and local authorities are ready to deal with this instead of begging a few houses in Poland for another PR campaign.
I feel that it's time to give back, share knowledge, spread all that we have accumulated over the years, flying around the world and visiting exhibitions. We were a "porridge" in which everything we collected and accumulated was mixed. Now it is important to convey all this to the youth. So that there is no brain drain, so that people return from abroad to rebuild their own state.

Ukrainian design can enormously enrich the world. Our baggage of traditions, signs, knowledge and arts is two thousand years old. And we are only at the beginning of its understanding. We have yet to deliver this message to the world.

The last issue of the project "Careful, painted" from Sadolin is like the final episode of the series, where we tell what the further path of each of the heroes was. Despite upheavals and difficulties, each of them continues to create and change the world

Victoria Yakusha, FAINA, Yakusha Studio

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Victoria has been living in Belgium for a long time, where she opened FAINA, a gallery of Ukrainian design. From there, she runs her own studio and furniture brand based in Kyiv. On February 24, the majority of the company's staff was in Ukraine. Work stopped for several weeks, because the safety of team members and their families became a priority. The stock of furniture and decor in the FAINA gallery in Antwerp allowed sales to continue. Work processes in Ukraine were also restored soon.

At the recent Milan Design Week, Victoria presented the CONTINUUM project, in which she united five visionary creators to show the world an intellectual Ukrainian product of high quality and deep meaning.

Victoria's team is also actively working on several reconstruction projects: the concept of "Chernihiv — a sustainable city" and the art space named after Maria Prymachenko near Kyiv.

Victoria:

The war in our country has been going on since 2014. Then I founded FAINA. It was an inner call to show the beauty of Ukraine, our rich cultural heritage. Culture and traditions that are part of us, our identity.

Ukrainian design began to develop faster after the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. It was the moment of our self-identification. Many new names appeared - very talented, bold in their expression. It was a new energy on the world stage of design. Our visual codes and design language were different, they were not as minimalistic as Scandinavian design and not as emotional as Italian. At FAINA, we have combined old and new, Ukrainian heritage and modern design. We have brought back ancient crafts, often endangered, and collaborated with unique artisans who carry valuable knowledge. This primitive-modern aesthetic, respect for roots and traditions have become part of the identity of modern Ukrainian design and how it is perceived in the world. But I believe that Ukrainian design is only at the beginning of its journey. We still have a lot to show.

Primitive-modern aesthetics, respect for roots and traditions - have become part of the identity of modern Ukrainian design and how it is perceived in the world

Culture is the basis of every nation. Without culture, there is no people. Therefore, throughout history, the Russians tried to ban Ukrainian culture, they appropriated our heritage and even killed people who defended it. From a young age, my family instilled a deep love for our culture and showed me the value of what we have. It's in me. With my design I tell my story and the story of my land.

Yakusha Design team started working on the concept of development and reconstruction of Chernihiv. We want to create an architectural code of Chernigov, taking into account the peculiarities of the region and elements of cultural heritage, as well as develop a strategy for the development of the city. The project is based on the concept "Chernihiv is a sustainable city. A city of sustainable spirit and sustainable development".

Our team, Yakusha Design, has already presented its vision of architectural solutions for Chernihiv to the mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko. The project will be refined and detailed to a full-scale master plan. Funds for the implementation of the concept will still need to be found, and its implementation will take at least 10 years.

Khrystyna Badzian, Replus

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Read the article "Hrystyna Badzian and shades of old wood. Sadolin: Careful, painted!”

A little over a year ago, the Lviv studio decided to focus on the HoReCa industry and not take on private housing projects. But it soon became clear that it is versatility and a wide range of services that allow us to stay afloat in times of turbulence. What seemed like a disadvantage turned out to be an advantage.

A day before the full-scale invasion, the company received documents to officially open their office in London. The war and the uncertainty of the situation in Ukraine forced to speed up the process of finding clients in a new country. Now Khrystyna spends several weeks in London every month, and the company conducts projects in several countries at the same time.

Christ:

Over the last year, we have become more down to earth. We don't plan for the long term, we don't ask ourselves where we want to be in six months. There is a project and financing - we do it. Our specialization has become wider. We specialize in surviving and not destroying specialists who were recruited before the war.

Our studio has existed for 8 years, during this time we have done many projects and reached some heights, but all the time that tiny complex of our provincialism lived in my head. There was always the thought that "when we become cool", we will open an office in Kyiv. And now, during the war, I realized that our difference is our advantage. It is through her that we receive requests from large all-Ukrainian companies. I think that we will no longer have an office in Kyiv. An office in London is sufficient for now.

The specificity of design in Ukraine lies in the fact that it began to recover practically from scratch twenty years ago. Soviet architecture, which was before that, came from the party, there was no individuality in it. A design that existed even earlier simply died out or was destroyed.

We became contemporaries of the process of formation of Ukrainian design. Everyone started on equal terms, no one could say that his father is a designer and he already knows some basics. We are hardened to deal with overwhelming tasks in an ultra-short time. We are used to this pace. And when we rush headlong into the international design community, we often give a head start to medium-sized studios that have been working there since the beginning.

 

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