Three years after the Russian invasion, Ukrainian design is flourishing, with increased productivity and international awards — and manufacturers are aiming to boost furniture exports by 30 per cent this year.
Among her achievements Alla Lisovska, the 26-year-old business development director of Tivoli, the Ukrainian furniture manufacturer set up by her parents, is most proud of her two daughters. Her younger girl, Sofia, now seven months, arrived during an attack on the Kyiv hospital where Lisovska was giving birth. “There were rockets flying here and there. So [labour] was an hour and a half. It was very fast.” Of Alla, three, she says: “She never cries because she was raised to be strong, and we cannot be not strong.”
We meet at a safe distance from the war, in Hall 6 of Maison & Objet, the trade fair at the heart of Paris Design Week. Lisovska is in Paris to promote her family firm, which makes contemporary furniture from oak and beechwood, including a covetable minimalist seat by Julia Kononenko named Calm. It won both the DNA Paris design award and the European product design award in 2023.
Alla Lisovska is the business development director of Tivoli
Lisovska is also flying the flag for her fellow countrymen and women. With her sister Julia, she founded the Ukrainian Export Alliance in 2023 to help manufacturers to showcase their products at international exhibitions. On the same stand at Maison & Objet are several of the sisters’ protégés, including glass and metal specialists Sklo; Dub, a brand that designs contemporary flat-pack wooden furniture; Pikart lighting; and Wowin, whose Scandinavian-style sofas are covered in wool upholstery. All are based in the Lviv region, in the west of the country. In eastern Ukraine many factories were lost during the invasion.
The exhibitors in Paris this year are typical of the nation’s furniture makers, an industry that includes about 11,000 manufacturers, three quarters of which are small and medium-sized enterprises, including many family-run operations. Lisovska, whose zero-waste factory is near the Polish border, says: “When the war started, the workers called my father. It was February 24 [the day the Russians invaded] in the morning and they asked, ‘What should we do?’ And he said, ‘Go to work.’”
They didn’t just turn up, they stepped up production. “With a 25 per cent reduction in our workforce, we are now producing 20 per cent more output. We are currently exporting to 21 countries and our client base has increased by 40 per cent.”
Workers added wartime skills to their expertise, making first-aid kits and bulletproof vests. When Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and the factory had only two to four hours of power daily, Lisovska says: “My father invented a gas engine that generates energy from the waste produced by our woodworking operations.”
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She left her tenth-floor apartment in Kyiv when the war started but returned after two months. Days and nights are punctuated by air raid alerts, but Lisovska refuses to quit her home again. The resilience of the Ukrainians is underreported, she says. “Most of the war is in eastern parts like Donetsk and Lugansk. Kyiv is under rocket [attack] sometimes, but not every day. We know that if we had rockets today, for example, then we have a rest for two weeks. We know the schedule, plus or minus. It’s bitter to say it, but we’re all used to it. We have rockets in the morning and after the alert is over we go to work, we go to salons, we go to restaurants. We continue living because otherwise we would die.”
Cushions made by the Ukrainian designer Marina Pupchenko
This toughness is what has fuelled the design industry boom. Ukrainian creativity is also boosting morale. There are highly decorative lights, such as the designs from Ruda Studio, and textiles and rugs in flamboyant colours and eccentric patterns. Marina Pupchenko, 33, whose boho accessories are also showcased at Maison & Objet, including new candlesticks and cushions, says: “The war has been the scariest and most devastating experience of my life, and I wish I never had to go through it. However, it has profoundly impacted my creativity. In times like these you realise how much you value life and the legacy you leave behind. Historically, wars have often sparked a boom in artistic expression, and I’ve felt this deeply too. It’s as though the urgency of life pushes your mind into overdrive, unlocking new ideas and perspectives.”
Pupchenko, who lives and works in Kyiv, describes her inspirations as “naive art, humour culture and Ukrainian funk”. She launched her business in 2019, with a focus on rugs, but after the Russian invasion she began to think hard about what it meant to be Ukrainian. “In late 2022 I relaunched it with a renewed vision: to reinterpret Ukrainian cultural themes in a modern way. I call this style ‘ethno-boho-funk’ — a blend of humour, vibrant colours and a touch of playfulness, designed to uplift people’s spirits, even during the darkest times.”
The gallery founder Sana Moreau
“Ukrainian designers combine craftsmanship and modernity with poetry and emotion,” says Sana Moreau, 49, the founder of the first gallery of contemporary Ukrainian design and craft in Paris, Galerie Sana Moreau. “Do you see tragedy in these objects?” she asks, indicating a collection of decorative metalwork furniture, including a Barvinok table by Sergii and Anna Baierzdorf. Its shape is inspired by the periwinkle flower, a cultural symbol of Ukraine. “No!” Moreau answers herself. She sees Ukrainian design as a joyous expression of defiance in the face of the invasion.
Moreau arrived in Paris from Kyiv three years ago. As the director of Maïno Design, her mission is to support and promote the best designers and makers in what she points out is a surprisingly young industry. “Ukrainian design as a phenomenon was created about 15 years ago. During the Soviet Union there were few schools that educated young people in design. There was only industrial design. After the independence of Ukraine in 1991, you could travel and see beautiful things, and a real renaissance of Ukrainian identity and creativity could begin.” She adds: “Ukrainians learnt a lot, from Europe, from the US, and yet we keep our traditions alive in our design projects. We put a little bit of our soul in each object.”
Soul appears to be an abundant commodity, but some of the more mundane materials are scarce now. The main source for clay, in Slovyansk, is in Donetsk Oblast, an occupied area in the east of Ukraine, and so ceramics must be made from clay imported from other countries. “The eastern part of Ukraine was where we mostly worked with steel and clay. I know two factories that were closed because Slovyansk was occupied. Some others moved to Kyiv, to the western part and to central Ukraine,” Moreau says, adding: “The Carpathian forests, in the western part of Ukraine, are not occupied so timber is still plentiful for the furniture makers.”
Manpower is another resource threatened by the invasion. Moreau says: “Many of the best male designers are in the war — Slava Balbek, one of the top designers and architects, as well as Vitaly Kyryliv and many others. Every day someone from the creative sphere dies.” She is hesitant to appear remotely upbeat during a national calamity, but she has identified one upside to the war. “Due to this catastrophe the world of design actually noticed us, noticed Ukrainian design. And they have discovered a variety of new objects, new possibilities. Since the war began, Ukrainian design started to export five times more to the world.” She continues: “Since the domestic market fell away, we became more export-orientated, adapted collections, became more active on international platforms — because only export will help us to survive. Ukrainians do not buy [furniture] right now, they have other priorities. They may not even have places to go home to.”
So does she put the rapid growth of the industry down to sympathy? “Not at all. People do not buy out of solidarity — they buy if the item is really good and they like it. It’s important for us to say this.” The dauntless women of Ukrainian design use the word resilience a lot. “Say the war didn’t break us,” Lisovska instructs. Moreau adds: “Tell them that there’s resistance and resilience in every piece of furniture.” Vive la résistance, as Ukrainians in Paris say.
Barvinok stainless-steel coffee table by Sergii and Anna Baierzdorf, polished and fire-finished by hand, €1,380, maino-design.com
Gate shelves by Artem Zakharchenko, €2,850, maino-design.com
Gushka wool cushion, 40cm x 60cm, £140, gushka.world
Calm armchair by Tivoli, £265, cofrafurniture.com
Play armchair by Dmytro Kozinenko for Woo Furniture, from €1,280, woo.furniture
Umi armchair by Rostislav Sorokovyi for Woo Furniture, from €1,340, woo.furniture
Collection of Pink Gentle Clouds vases by Liliya Pylypchak, Julia Olenchyn and Solomiia Vidishchuk, €165 each, mom.maison-objet.com
Colorativs side tables, €620, mom.maison-objet.com
Accent chairs by Mapico (made to order), from $2,105, mapico.com.ua
Pouf by Mapico, $550, mapico.com.ua
Ruda Studio lamps, from €2,300 for a small table light to €11,000 for a standard lamp, ruda.com.ua
Marina Pupchenko designs rugs, cushions, embroidered table and bed linen and candlesticks that draw on traditional Ukrainian patterns and forms. Set of table runners, €620, mom.maison-objet.com
Marina Pupchenko reversible Starry Night blanket, €700, and table runner, €620, mom.maison-objet.com
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