Ukrainian Product Designers you need to know about

On Monday I shared some Ukrainian interior designers so you could get a sense of the style and talent coming out of that country. Today I thought I would, as a second part of that post, show you some of those making products that we can buy – although most made to order so it’s probably more about adding them to your address book for later.

But we start with this pendant light by pluskouple.com, which comes in several colours including green, tan and white but the black version has been re-named Molotov. It costs €150 and all proceeds go to the Ukrainian Army.

The +kouple studio, which was formerly known as Fild, says: “BEVEL + Molotov lamp is dedicated to Ukrainian bravery and resistance. All money from this campaign would be transferred to Ukrainian Army. Plus our incredibly supportive friends-clients would have very memorable and historical piece of light!

There is no exact delivery time we can promise, but definitely will be delivered soon from the free country!!!

We strongly believe in our cause and we are so significantly grateful for all international support you’ve already gave to Ukrainian nation.”

This lamp is called Soniah, which, according to the designer Faina, is Ukrainain for sunflower, the national symbol of the country. They are made to order and cost £2652. They are made from clay using an ancestral technique called Ztista. Design Wanted says: “Ztista translates as ‘made of dough’ and the material, which is environmentally sound is a blend of clay, recycled paper, hay, straw, wooden chips all covered with biopolymer.”

It was presented at Dutch Design Week in 2019 after its invention by Faina.

Staying with lighting, this mold lamp, which was created for Ligne Roset, is by Ukrainian designer Kateryna Sokolova,  co-founder and creative director of the brand NOOM and SOKOLOVA design studio, which designs furniture, lighting, hardware, electronics and environments.

We never really pay attention to individual designers when we buy from a large brand and it turns out it’s important to do so. That said things clearly haven’t changed much – the French designer Charlotte Perriand was never singled out for her work for Le Corbusier and there have been disputes down the years about items designed for the big design houses where the credit wasn’t given. That said, Ligne Roset does shout out its designers and there is a page on Kateryna on the site. She also designed the Oxydation table below.

As co-founder of Noom, Kateryna has designed a number of products. I am linking also to Clippings, which showcases a large range of the products, including this fabulous vase, which I want. And which costs £471.09. But I think we all know now that it’s not just a vase.

At her Sokolova studio, she has worked on this Tottori armchair and sofa for Driade, which I include, not to make this post all about Kateryna (although she’s clearly hugely successful and talented) but also to show how large brands employ a range of designers and while they tend to shout about the famous ones we never hear of the others. Perhaps when we buy from big brands we should start asking – do you have any Ukrainian designers? Any Africans? Any Indians? Journalists tend to have their name on everything they write, perhaps this should be the norm for designers – and I know that this does happen already otherwise how have I found these, but for high street brands too this might help young designers build a recognisable portfolio.

Other designers include Pavel Vetrov, whose work is sold via the Estonian company Woodman, but I can’t see exactly which are his pieces. I went for this gorgeous table below, which he said he designed for them but I can’t find it on the site. That said there are lots of beautiful designs there and he has listed the client so you might be able to track down anything you like.

There are so many talented and award-winning designers. I also love the work of the young team at Svoya Studio and we can only hope that they will be able to return, if not to their studios, then to their work.

Finally, like the AirBnB route I told you about on Monday, you can also help directly by buying digital products via Etsy, which means sellers don’t have to worry about making and posting things at the time but can still earn money. Go to Etsy, look for digital creations and specify Ukraine as the country. Here’s a link. I don’t need to tell you that if you search for Ukrainian embroidery you get pages of links by companies selling things that have never been anywhere near then hands of a Ukrainian designer although if you want to buy clothes rather than homewares, Oprah published this link about Ukrainian fashion designers the other day. Again, this will depend on finding stockists who have items ready to post rather than things that are made to order. Vogue has also added six names to the list.

This is basically about adding some names to your address book and seeing if there are ways we can help.