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      Olga Fradina uses natural tones and textures for interior of Ukrainian holistic healing centre

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      Ukrainian designer Olga Fradina has completed a monochromatic interior for Space, a wellness centre in Kyiv, where textures rather than colours provide interest and create a soothing atmosphere.

      Space is a holistic wellness centre that includes areas for practising yoga, meditation and acupuncture, as well as traditional healing practices such as reiki and qigong.
      Space houses a yoga studio (above) and massage rooms (top image)The project commenced just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the company’s founder – entrepreneur and wellness enthusiast Kateryna Bakhirka – eventually deciding to move forward as she felt a space for healing practices was important at a time of global turbulence.
      Bakhirka had previously commissioned Fradina to design her private apartment in the city and asked the designer to follow a similar direction, although with a warmer palette than the cosily dark residence.
      Artwork by Nikita Vlasov decorates the massage rooms”I aimed to make the space as comfortable as possible, creating somewhere people would like to stay longer and where they could easily relax,” Fradina told Dezeen.

      Space is located on the ground floor of an early 20th-century building in Kyiv’s Podil district that once functioned as a candle factory.
      The four-storey building had previously been divided into several apartments and Fradina began by removing internal partitions to open up the cellular space.
      The wellness centre has a muted tonal colour paletteThe reconfigured interior comprises several functional zones – a small entrance hall, a locker room, a room for group classes, two massage rooms, a tea lounge and a room with a bathtub that is used for certain healing practices.
      The bright and airy hall used for group sessions is lined with mirrors on one side, while the opposite wall is painted with a subtle gradient to evoke a sunset.
      A raw-edged wooden table anchors the tea roomA darker palette is employed in the massage rooms to create a more soothing and intimate ambience. The only touch of brightness is provided by a brass panel painted with a dynamic symbol by Ukrainian artist Nikita Vlasov.
      The tearoom is also rendered in muted shades and accommodates a three-metre-long raw-edged wooden table that was custom-made by local workshop Staritska Maysternya.
      A nearby bar counter is clad with bricks salvaged from an old house and is topped with Cambrian Black granite. Objects purchased by Bakhirka on her travels through Asia and South America are displayed on backlit shelves.

      Olga Fradina uses dark colours and natural textures to create cosy Kyiv apartment

      The main materials used throughout the project are micro cement, plaster, wood, copper and vintage brick, which Fradina chose due to her fondness for “monochrome interiors where the main accents are textures”.
      “I love natural and tactile materials, playing a little bit on the slight contrast of textures such as wood, stone and rough plaster,” the designer added. “Each one has its own structure, reflectivity, roughness. Coming together they create an expressive but not flashy emotion.”
      The nearby bar is constructed from salvaged bricksRegular blackouts in Kyiv due to the ongoing war made construction work challenging, according to Fradina, with contractors often needing to bring their own generators to provide electricity.
      The designer herself regularly had to take cover in a subway station during site visits when shelling was taking place. The war has also taken an emotional toll and altered her approach to her practice, Fradina revealed.
      Found objects are displayed on backlit shelves”It’s hard enough for me to design now, it feels like I’ve lost my connection to the physical world,” she said. “During these years of active war, I have been mostly involved in digital art and I’m better able to interact with abstract matter now.”
      Also in Kyiv, Yana Molodykh has designed a light-filled interior for a compact attic apartment while Makhno Studio has created an all-beige residence with bumpy textures and intricate ceramic walls.
      The photography is by Yevhenii Avramenko.

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      Anastasiia Novikova gives monochrome makeover to artists' apartment in Kyiv

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      Parisian decor flourishes feature throughout this apartment in Kyiv, outfitted with black-and-white living spaces by Ukrainian designer Anastasiia Novikova.

      Renovated just before the start of the Ukraine war, the apartment is located on the third floor of a five-storey residential building erected in 1912.
      Anastasiia Novikova has reinstated stucco inside a 1912 apartment in KyivAfter its previous owners had completely ripped out all of the original stucco, doors and floorboards, Novikova wanted to restore the home’s historic charm – particularly in the living room.
      “When I saw the large empty room with its four-metre-high ceiling and four big windows, I immediately came up with a picture of how it would look in the future,” she said.
      “I wanted to make the walls, the floor, ceiling and windows like they were in the past and implement some modern furniture, light and art.”

      A vintage French mirror and fireplace mantel were added for decorationThe living room was freshened up with a lick of white paint while stucco was reinstated on its ceiling.
      “I created a few sketches, then a Ukrainian craftsman sculpted them entirely in one-to-one scale out of plasticine,” explained Novikova. “After that, they made it from plaster.”
      The kitchen features jet-black cabinetryElements of the stucco design are based on an ornate Napoleon II-era gilded mirror that’s mounted on a wall at the far end of the room, directly above a vintage Louis XV fireplace mantel.
      Novikova included these decor features to bring a slightly Parisian feel to the apartment as the owners – a pair of artists – love visiting the French capital.
      Grey tones permeate the principal bedroomThe living room is otherwise occupied by an L-shaped grey sofa, a selection of contemporary artworks by Ukrainian artists and an old piano that’s played at family parties.
      The adjacent kitchen was fitted with jet-black cabinets and a matching breakfast island. From the centre of the island extends a white marble dining table, accompanied by chairs with olive-green velvet seats.

      Yana Molodykh refurbishes attic apartment with views over Kyiv

      The apartment’s largely monochromatic colour scheme continues into the principal bedroom, where the walls, curtains and curved headboard are all a shade of putty grey.
      Textural interest is added by a shiny brass pendant lamp that’s been suspended over one of the side tables and a cane-inlaid bench that sits at the foot of the bed.
      Its ensuite bathroom is almost entirely lined with white marbleThe ensuite bathroom is housed inside a separate volume in the corner of the room, lined inside and out with panels of white veiny marble.
      Brighter shades appear in the children’s bedrooms – one of which is finished in sage green while the other is blush pink with mustard-yellow accents.
      Brighter colours were applied in the children’s bedroomsNovikova connected the two rooms via a small mezzanine, where the kids can hide away to play, read and nap throughout the day.
      The apartment is among a number of residential projects that were completed in the Ukrainian capital just before the start of the war and are now finally starting to be published.
      A cosy mezzanine connects the two kids’ roomsMakhno Studio finished Mureli House, an all-beige dwelling with intricate ceramic walls on the city’s outskirts, while designer Yana Molodykh reconfigured an attic apartment to allow for more storage and natural light.
      The photography is by Yevhenii Avramenko.

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      Yana Molodykh refurbishes attic apartment with views over Kyiv

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      Ukrainian designer Yana Molodykh has renovated a compact apartment in Kyiv, creating a light-filled space with storage fitted around the building’s existing structural framework.

      The 50-square-metre apartment, which was christened with a housewarming party a few days before the start of the Ukraine war, is a pied-à-terre for a couple that lives in one of the capital’s suburbs and likes to spend weekends in the city centre.
      Yana Molodykh has renovated an attic apartment in KyivThe apartment is located on the attic level of a modern eight-storey building in the historic Podil district, which the owners chose because it reminds them of their home city of Kherson.
      The existing interior was divided by a series of metal columns and partition walls, with small windows, zinc-profiled flooring and steel roof beams making the rooms feel dark and cluttered.
      The apartment was redesigned to let in more daylightMolodykh completely reorganised the space, removing internal walls, adding effective soundproofing and enlarging the windows to let in more sunlight.

      The designer wanted to create a bright and eclectic space reminiscent of Kherson’s resort atmosphere, with materials chosen to bring natural warmth and texture into the daylit interior.
      Wooden joinery adds warmth and texture to the interior space”I aimed to create a true atmosphere of living under the roof,” the designer told Dezeen. “When you are at the top of a building every action occurs below you, so you can observe and enjoy the view. Also, I wanted there to be no obstacles to daylight.”
      The main requests from the client were for a cosy living area and a comfortable and functional kitchen where the couple can cook and entertain.
      Some of the home’s steel structure was left exposedWooden flooring and joinery contribute to the warm and relaxing atmosphere, Molodykh said, with details such as the sheer curtains and paper Akari floor lamp from Vitra adding “airy” accents.
      Some of the building’s steel structure was left exposed while other parts were concealed behind shelves in the living room and the closets in the bedroom.
      Built-in storage that extends all the way to the ceiling optimises the apartment’s available height. And in the dining area, storage for tableware is cleverly integrated behind one of the columns.

      Makhno Studio celebrates Ukrainian craft in all-beige home near Kyiv

      The smallest room in the apartment is the 6.4-square-metre bedroom, which features a bed raised on a podium and a wardrobe set into a niche behind a column.
      A large beam that crosses the space was boxed in to prevent the uncomfortable feeling of a heavy metal structure overhead, while built-in shelves by the bed help to free up floor space.
      The steel beam in the bedroom was boxed inThe apartment’s compact entrance area features a tiled floor and a blue accent door, creating a visual buffer between the interior and exterior.
      A small dressing area is slotted in between the beams and columns next to the entrance, hidden behind sliding doors with mirrored panels.
      Geometric patterned tiles also feature in the bathroom, which contains a freestanding bathtub and shower cubicle along with terracotta ceramic sconces by Ukrainian designer Julia Kononenko.
      Geometric floor tiles define the apartment’s entranceMolodykh mixed tiles from four different brands to create a layered effect influenced by her appreciation of Ukrainian constructivist architecture, much of which is currently falling victim to Russian shelling.
      “I wanted to link the apartment’s interior with important buildings nearby including the Zhytniy market and Zhovten cinema,” the designer explained.
      “I admire their architecture, lines, proportions and ideas, so I wanted to pay my tribute. That is why the bathroom looks slightly different from the rest of the apartment. It makes the project more eclectic and more corresponding to its surroundings.”
      The tiling in the bathroom was informed by Ukrainian constructivist architecturePodil is one of Kyiv’s oldest districts and today, its early-20th-century buildings are neighboured by modern constructions and high-rise hotels.
      These diverse architectural styles contribute to the cosmopolitan feel of the neighbourhood, which has not escaped the Ukraine war unscathed. In March 2022, a missile destroyed a building in the district some distance away from the apartment.
      But Molodykh said that despite everything, people in the area still look to their homes as havens amidst the ongoing war.
      The apartment is located in Kyiv’s historic Podil district”Even these days, people enjoy their cosy interiors and warm home atmosphere where they can spend time with families and close friends supporting each other,” she said.
      Molodykh currently lives between here and Krakow in Poland, as it is easier for her to work on projects from outside of Ukraine.
      Other projects in Kyiv that were completed just before the war and are just starting to be published in recent months include an all-beige home in the city’s outskirts by architect Sergey Makhno and the HQ of fashion label Sleeper, which is housed in a former shoe factory.
      The photography is by Yevhenii Avramenko.

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      Sleeper turns Kyiv shoe factory into eclectic headquarters

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      Ukrainian architects Veronika Arutunyan and Olga Malyshenko have transformed the interior of a former factory in Kyiv into meeting and manufacturing spaces for fashion label Sleeper.

      Sleeper completed the conversion of three floors inside the 1940s industrial at the end of 2021 – months prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
      The brand’s HQ is inside an old factoryUkrainian architects Arutunyan and Malyshenko worked with Sleeper founders Kate Zubareva and Asya Varetsa on the remodelling of the interior, which was geared towards both the productivity and well-being of the company’s team.
      “Sleeper’s vision completely animated this fading industrial building in the historical part of Podil,” said Arutunyan.
      The designers fitted out the interior to accomodate specialist machineryThe workspaces, breakout areas, meeting rooms, dedicated manufacturing rooms and specialist photography studio all contain homely touches, such as soft seating, coffee tables and mismatched chairs.

      “We’re not big fans of fast fashion or corporatised, artificially-created design,” explained Sleeper co-founder Zubareva.
      “Instead, we wanted to create a place where people would feel comfortable.”
      Interiors were furnished with assorted designer furnishings from a range of design periodsAntiques and retro items are scattered throughout, with notable examples including cantilevered Marcel Breuer-designed armchairs, a 1960s chair brought from a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, and a pair of red 1970s art nouveau chiclet armchairs designed by Ray Wilkes for Herman Miller.
      “The designers referenced the mid-twentieth-century aesthetic of celebration halls and scientific institutes, with their simple futuristic forms,” the brand commented.

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      The adaptive reuse of the building allowed for original features – such as parquet floors and high ceilings – to be preserved, while providing the Sleeper team with necessary specialised facilities.
      Flexible layouts were designed to accommodate the brand’s growing team and allow for expansion, as well as its need for specialised amenities associated with clothing production.
      The interior has a neutral colour palette punctuated with pops of colourIn addition to aesthetic considerations, the designers ensured that the team was provided with ample facilities to carry out a wide range of tasks.
      A photo studio, meeting spaces, silent room, changing rooms and lounge spaces, in addition to manufacturing rooms, were created to ensure that each step of the creative process could be facilitated comfortably.
      Contrasting furniture was chosen to make the space feel more domesticSleeper is a fashion brand that designs and creates high-end sleepwear intended to be used both in the home and on the street, according to the label.
      The company has clothed notable actors, singers and celebrity personalities including Lily James, Katy Perry, Emma Roberts, Kendall Jenner and Kourtney Kardashian among others.
      Areas dedicated to garment production are clear-cutThe production of garments at the brand’s Kyiv atelier has been temporarily paused due to the war in Ukraine, which has damaged over 140 heritage sites in the country since the invasion by Russia in February 2022.
      Sleeper’s team has partially returned to their headquarters in the capital, with the remainder of its team working remotely in other parts of the world.
      “We have no doubts that the Sleeper’s home should be located in Ukraine, the country where the brand was born,” the brand told Dezeen.
      Glass walls allow natural light to enter all spacesOther reuse projects that feature on Dezeen include Chinese pastry brand Lao Ding Feng’s headquarters in a former warehouse by Neri&Hu, and a radio station in an old furniture store by Atelier38.
      The photography is by Andrey Bezuglov.

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      Ukrainian studio Bogdanova Bureau's Kyiv office damaged in missile attack

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      Kyiv architecture studio Bogdanova Bureau has vowed to make its office “even more beautiful than before” after it was damaged in a Russian missile attack.

      Staff at Bogdanova Bureau arrived at the office on Monday to find the windows blasted into the room and debris and broken glass scattered across the floor.
      Windows were smashed into the room by the blastRussian forces had fired a barrage of missiles into the Ukrainian capital and other cities early that morning, killing 19 people and injuring many more.
      None of Bogdanova Bureau’s employees were harmed, though some of their possessions were destroyed, the studio told Dezeen. By Tuesday, the team had cleaned up the office and returned to work in the studio.
      The team cleaned up the office and returned to work the following day”In some time we will repair all that is broken and make our place even more beautiful than before,” said studio spokesperson Nadia Sheikina. “As designers, we know how to do it.”

      “As well, we are going to rebuild all the destroyed cities and villages, all the schools, homes and ambulatories that were ruined in Ukraine,” she continued. “We already had started working on it.”
      Broken glass and debris was scattered through the office”We were scared on February 24 when the war started, now we are not,” she added. “We know that the mean enemy wants to invade our land and appropriate our culture, but it will never happen.”
      Bogdanova Bureau only recently refurbished its office, completing the project five months before the Russian invasion began.
      The office, pictured before the blast, was refurbished five months before the war began. Photo by Yevhenii AvramenkoThe office is in the heart of Kyiv next to Shevchenko Park, and is surrounded by a university, libraries, museums, and a cultural centre, as well as apartments and office buildings.
      A missile struck the middle of the park close to a children’s playground, with the blast wave destroying windows across the building housing the studio’s office.
      The missile struck a park outside the office building next to a playgroundThe bombardment of central Kyiv was part of a series of attacks launched in retaliation after a key bridge linking Russia to the annexed region of Crimea was heavily damaged by an explosion.
      In April, Bogdanova Bureau spoke to Dezeen for a piece about how Ukrainian design and architecture studios were dealing with the war.

      Russian shelling destroys constructivist landmark in Ukraine

      At the time, its founder Olga Bogdanova urged international clients to trust Ukrainian studios to deliver despite the turmoil of the conflict.
      “We thank the international society and especially the international design community for all their support and all their attention,” Sheikina said this week.

      Windows of the building were left damaged”But after eight months of the war, we feel that some of you got used to the war. Please do not be! It is understandable, no one can be stressed for such a long time and everyone deserves to experience their own life and focus on some normal things around them,” she continued.
      “We ask you not to get used to war and pay your precise attention to Ukrainian designers, architects, and artists. Please raise your voice and stand with Ukraine. It can make things different!”
      The photography is by Yulia Bevzenko unless otherwise stated.

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      Makhno Studio celebrates Ukrainian craft in all-beige home near Kyiv

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      Kyiv-based Makhno Studio has paired soft, bumpy textures and intricate ceramic walls inside this all-beige home in Ukraine, which was completed right before the Russian invasion.

      Located in Kozyn, a rural town just south of Kyiv, Mureli House is a celebration of summertime and Ukrainian design, with mureli being an old Ukrainian word for apricot.
      Intricate ceramics feature throughout the Mureli House interior by Makhno StudioThe home, which was completed just two months before the start of the invasion in February 2022, comprises an open-plan living room and kitchen, three bedrooms with three bathrooms, a guest bathroom, a laundry room and a garage with a terrace.
      The clients – a local Ukrainian couple with a large family – requested from the outset that Makhno Studio should work with as many Ukrainian manufacturers and craftsmen as possible to create bespoke products for the house.
      A bulbous sculpture decorates the fireplace mantel in the lounge”All materials in the home are natural,” the studio’s founder Serhii Makhno told Dezeen. “The team used almost all Ukrainian brands and worked with several local contractors to minimise the distance and logistics.”

      The clients wanted a neutral, beige interior across all of the rooms to create a cohesive look. As a result, the house’s second floor is finished mostly in wood while the entire ground floor is decorated with beige-coloured plaster.
      Makhno designed the pendant lights in the lounge to resemble seed podsMakhno Studio emphasised the generous volumes and curved staircase in the home’s entrance hallway through a wall of three-dimensional ceramic tiles and a dramatic cluster of pendant lamps made of clay and polystyrene foam.
      References to the natural world are integrated throughout the interior. Highlights include a cluster of Makhno-designed pendants in the living room that resemble seed pods and washbasins that appear like hollowed-out boulders.
      The entire ground floor including the kitchen is finished in beige-coloured plasterThe only exception to Mureli House’s monochrome colour scheme is the main bathroom, which features pink accents including ombre shower doors and scale-shaped concrete tiles that can be tilted away from the wall to double up as hooks for hanging towels and bathrobes.
      “Ceramic craftsmanship is an ancient Ukrainian tradition,” Makhno explained. “At the end of the 1920s, the ceramic tradition began to be restored in various parts of Ukraine. At Makhno, the tradition is continued today to highlight its uniqueness and naturalistic appeal.”

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      Mureli House currently stands empty since the owners were forced to flee to safer areas in the west of Ukraine following Russia’s attempts to storm Kyiv in the early days of the war.
      The exact condition of the home is unknown. But Makhno Studio says a Russian military plane and several missiles were shot down over the surrounding area in Kozyn.
      Russian troops were forced to retreat from Kyiv at the start of April but left behind a trail of destruction in the city’s outskirts and have since carried out a number of airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital.
      The monochrome colour palette extends into the home’s three bedroomsIn total, more than 143 significant cultural sites have been damaged in Ukraine since the start of the war, including the Ivankiv Museum in Kyiv and several second world war memorial monuments in the surrounding region.
      Serhii Makhno says he currently remains safe in Ukraine, while the rest of his team is scattered throughout Europe and is working mainly on international projects.
      Boulder-like sinks and scale-shaped tiles feature in the main bathroomThe studio is among a number of Ukrainian practices that have told Dezeen they are now looking for support and commissions from foreign clients.
      Previous projects from the studio include Makhno’s own thatched-roof house in Kozyn and his duplex apartment in Kyiv.
      The photography is courtesy of Makhno Studio.

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