Crafts

Shaping clay and dreaming of Crimea

With the beginning of the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, Tetiana Bolharova left the peninsula for the mainland of Ukraine, where she mastered pottery. In Kherson, she opened a workshop, where she now conducts masterclasses, teaching others to make...

Handicrafts of Ukraine

An eco-friendly hoover

Not many villages have any particular feature that would make them stand out. But the villages Savran, Osychky, and Vilshanka in Podillia have their own specialty: making wicker brooms, or “vinyky.” Locals call such brooms environmentally friendly hoovers. Here, as...

Kamianets-Podilskyi. The living fortress

Kamianets-Podilskyi fortress is one of the most popular attractions of Podillia. It is in the last several years that the fortress has begun to change and to return to life. Kamianets-Podilskyi castle has turned from a regular museum complex into...

Worldwide unknown Petrykivka

The village of Petrykivka is known for the eponymous traditional painting style — Petrykivka painting (or simply “Petrykivka”). Historically, people used it to decorate house walls, musical instruments and household items. Nowadays, these painting elements can be seen on a...

Kamianets-Podilskyi. Balloons over the Fortress

The long-standing city of Kamianets-Podilskyi is known for its fortress, organic mix of cultures from various nations, and vivid festival life. The most remarkable of those, in particular, are the hot air balloon festivals. This story is about falling in...

Reshetylivka. Revival of Carpet Manufacturing

Reshetylivka, a town in Poltavshchyna, is a true treasure of Ukrainian folk art. Masters of weaving, carpet manufacturing and embroidery from Reshetylivka have been famous across Ukraine since the end of the nineteenth century. High-quality wool from a local breed...

Buhai: a Bird and a Musical Instrument

There are a lot of folk musical instruments that have been forgotten over time, or their origin is hard to establish. If no one produces or restores them, they can simply disappear. Among such rare folk instruments is buhai, which...