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I grew up in western Ukraine in a family where making things by hand was simply part of everyday life. My mother always had some sewing or knitting project nearby, and my grandmother was the person who first taught me to embroider.
Today I live in Denmark with my family. I enjoy the quiet moments at home, especially when I can sit with a cup of tea and work on something with my hands. I also love walking, cooking for friends and discovering small second-hand shops where I sometimes find materials or objects that give me ideas.
I never thought of myself as an artist when I was younger. I just liked making things. Over time I realised that creating something with my own hands is one of the things that makes me happiest.
I mainly work with embroidery and knitting, and in recent years I have also started experimenting with ceramics.
I learned basic embroidery when I was a child, although there were many years when I hardly did it at all. I began again more seriously about eight years ago. Knitting came later, when a friend taught me how to make a simple scarf. Since then I have made everything from small decorations to scarves, bags and items for the home.
Ceramics is still quite new to me. I enjoy being a beginner again and learning what the clay will and will not allow me to do.
Making things helps me slow down.
Most of everyday life is fast. There are phones, messages, news and things that need to be done. When I embroider, I have to concentrate on one small stitch at a time. I find that very calming.
I also enjoy the moment when something that existed only as an idea becomes a real object that I can hold in my hands.
The best feeling is when somebody actually uses something I have made. A handmade object becomes part of another person's home or life, and I like that thought very much.
Embroidery has a very long tradition in Ukraine. Different regions developed their own patterns, colours and ways of decorating clothing and household textiles.
In my family, embroidery was not something we talked about as cultural heritage. It was simply something the older women knew how to do. My grandmother embroidered tablecloths, towels and clothing, and I remember watching her hands while she worked.
Today I sometimes use traditional Ukrainian patterns, but I also like changing them. I might use traditional shapes with modern colours or take one small element from an old pattern and turn it into something completely different.
For me, that is what keeps a tradition alive. We can respect where it comes from while still creating something new.
Most of my products are made completely by hand.
For embroidery I normally begin by drawing or adapting the pattern. I then choose the fabric and threads and test the colours before beginning the final piece. Even a small embroidered item can take several hours because every stitch is made individually.
For knitted products I usually work with wool, cotton or a mixture depending on how the finished product will be used. I try to choose materials that feel pleasant and will last.
With ceramics, I shape each piece individually, allow it to dry, fire it, glaze it and fire it again. Small differences are part of the process, so two pieces will never be completely identical.
I like that. When something is handmade, I don't think it should look as though it came from a factory.
