FAMOUS UKRAINIANDESIGNERS

By Sofia Kasyan9th form

Since November 1999, the brand Andre Tan, bearing the name of its fashion designer Andre Tan who graduated from the Central Saint Martins College of Art in London, has gained worldwide notoriety and fame. Tan’s collections have been presented in various countries including Russia, Latvia, China, Bahrain, and Germany. Working together with Roberto Cavalli, he has designed dresses for the participants of the Miss Europe 2006 beauty pageant, while German fashion critics have described Andre Tan as one of the best women’s prêt-a-porter brand. Tan’s collections stand out for being both fashionable and comfortable to wear and for being made in Ukraine.

ANDRE TAN

Nataly Bolshakova is one of Ukraine’s most talented interior designers. In 2012, she won the SBID International Design Award for her House on the Sea. As a team leader of Nataly Bolshakova Interior Design, she provides her customers with services to help them create the space of their dreams according to their budget and time-frame. The team members do not limit themselves to the design creation but accompany their customers through every step of the project until its final implementation. As such, their philosophy is based on quality recommendations, and a follow-up of the entire process to avoid stress, negative feelings and wasted money.

NATALY BOLSHAKOVA

Lilia Poustovit is the fashion designer behind the brands TM POUSTOVIT and Poustovit for Atelier 1. Her collections can be found in various geographical locations, including Kiev, London, Seoul, Tokyo, Saint Petersburg and Moscow. At the inauguration of the Ukrainian Fashion Syndicate in 2004, she was elected president. In 2008, when the syndicate turned into the Ukrainian Fashion Council, she was made head of the Expert Committee. Her originality lies in immersing herself into the youth subculture to create collections with a young Ukrainian soul.

LILIA POUSTOVIR

In 2003, Nota Bene and Karavay was founded by bringing the Ukrainian company Nota Bene and the fashion designer Iryna Karavay together. Karavay’s originality is at the core of the brand’s philosophy which advocates the mutual use of art and fashion to create emotional clothing ‘for women with active living position who are able to navigate among the mass uniformity of things and make their choices.’ In the deluxe line, handmade decorations are used on every collection, making every single piece of clothing and accessory look like a work of art.

IRYNA KARAVAY

Viktoria Gres, the artist who owns a fashion brand and an interior design company at the same name, offers high-quality services and creative clothing that find inspirational roots in history. Her outfits are personalized and are very close to being artworks. She believes that the brand’s uniqueness comes from her use of antique lace in unusual ways together with vintage textiles to create contemporary and romantic collections. Established in 1993, the fashion brand has four different lines: Victoria Gres by GRES, Victoria Gres Couture, Victoria Gres DENIM and the accessories line. At the same time, Gres is also very active in developing Gres décor, again providing a historical touch.

VICTORIA GRES

Today, Oksana Karavanska is one of the most creative, famous and in demand Ukrainian fashion designers, and is an active member of the Ukrainian Fashion Council Expert Committee. In 1997, when her first boutique was opened, Oksana Karavanska became a registered trademark. Since 1998, her bright and extravagant collections have been displayed at Ukrainian fashion weeks and in 2002, she won the Crystal Silhouette Competition Grand Prix for the dress of the year. She was also named best designer of the year by the Ukrainian Centre of Fashion Development that year. Karavanska, fond of using old-fashioned lace, always remembers to give a local touch to her collections.

OKSANA KARAVANSKA

Born in Odessa, Alexander Gapchuk  is one of the leading Ukrainian fashion designers specializing in menswear, focusing on men’s suiting more specifically. Since 2002, his collections have been represented at both Ukrainian and Russian Fashion Weeks. Drawing inspiration from classic collections of costume designers, troubadours and medieval knights, Gapchuk’s work is colourful and bold, using materials typical of street-style fashion in an innovative way. Having been trained to create women’s attire, he felt curious and inspired to add a touch of female elegance to his men’s collections.

ALEXANDER GAPCHUK

FAMOUSUKRAINIAN

ARTISTS

He was born on June 2, 1959 year in village Yaroshivka, Chernigov area on Ukraine in a family of the military. He studied at art school two years. Then he has been expelled for bad behaviour.

The artist works in art workshops at the Rivne organisation of the National union of artists of Ukraine since 1989.

He was the participant of regional and national art exhibitions (from 1990). Personal exhibitions - in Rivne (1990, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007), Lutsk (1996, 1998), Kiev(2000, 2001, 2006), Lvov (2003), Lublin (Poland, 2004), Preshov, (Slovakia, 2006). The participant of 2nd International art open-air which was devoted to the Day of Preshov city, Slovakia (on May, 28th - on June, 9th, 2006).

ALEXANDR GURISTYUK

Born on October 25, 1953 in Podvirne, Chernivts Oblast, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union is a Ukrainian painter. His works depict Ukrainian landscapes and urban views, or draw on the traditions of Ukrainian iconography.

Buryak graduated from the Ivan Trush College of Arts in 1974, and from the Lviv Academy of Arts in 1979. He is a member of the Union of Artists of Ukraine.

In 1991 he won the National Union of Artists Prize (Kiev, 1991), and was recognised in the international "New Names" awards in Moscow in 1992. Buryak today lives and works in Lviv, Ukraine, where he runs a private art school.

BORYS BURYAK

Born on April 9, 1962 is a Ukrainian filmmaker and visual artist. He is a co-founder of the creative association Masoch Fund.

Ihor Podolchak was voted as one of the 10 most prominent Ukrainian filmmakers by Forbes Ukraine in 2014.

The artist's book Jacob Bohme was awarded as World's Best Book (Bronze Medal) by Stiftung Buchkunst Frankfurt am Main at Frankfurt Book Fair. One of his 24 personal exhibitions was the first art exhibition ever to be held in space, at space station Mir on January 25, 1993. Artworks of Podolchak can be found in 26 museums and public collections worldwide.

IHOR PODOLCHAK

Sand performance was suggested by her husband. Initially, Simonova was unsure, but she decided to try it in the absence of other viable options to improve their financial situation. When tests with beach and river sands proved both unsuitable, Simonova's husband began researching better options on the internet. He sold his printing equipment to buy 3 kilograms of expensive volcanic sand.

Simonova began experimenting with the medium at night, after serving as a full-time mother throughout the day. She found it challenging, but persisted in spite of early impulses to give up.

On December 4, 2009, Simonova presented the first Sand Picture Exhibition. In 2010, she founded an International Cultural Center "Sand Club" in the Crimean city of Yevpatoria.

KSENIYA SIMONOVA

Since the late 1980s, Marina Skugareva has participated regularly in exhibitions of modern art in Kiev, Moscow, Warsaw, Basel, Berlin, Odense. Her works are the part of a "new wave" - a movement which programmatically attributes its art to a postmodernism, updating the traditional Ukrainian art by its esthetics.

Her early works («Nocturnal Kiev» (1988), «Der Vogel» (1990), «Poison Ivy» (1992)) are close to transavantgarde painting. There is a characteristic technique which appears already in Skugareva's first picturesque works—the embroidered fragment—a bird, a flower, a human face.

In 2007 Marina Skugareva presented the project of drawings «Good Housekeepers». It develops the subject of a naked figure in space, detecting new accents. In the majority of drawings Marina uses texts from women's Internet-chats which, being imposed on the naked figures, turn into tattoos. 

MARINA SKUGAREVA