Kiev design brand Faina looked to traditional local materials for items of furniture made from clay, wood, willow and flax that tell the story of Ukraine's design roots.
Cabinets with doors crafted from clay and seats made from flax covered with a special biopolymer coating are some of the designs produced by the brand.
Set up in 2014 by architect and designer Victoriya Yakusha with the aim of putting the large eastern European country's design industry on the map, Faina incorporates local natural materials into its furniture lines.
Pechyvo cabinets were the first pieces with ceramic doors launched by Faina
Yakusha, who has also run Yakusha Design Studio since 2006, works out of an office in Kiev that was recently longlisted for the small workspace interior category in this year's Dezeen Awards. "The collections are totally based on domestic traditions, materials and craft techniques," Yakusha explained to Dezeen. "We are trying to transform traditions into contemporary minimalist design objects in a very careful and respectful way."
The Solod cabinet has a facade made from four clay panels
Both the Korotun coffee table and Veleten desk sit on two giant ceramic legs, whilst the Solod bar cabinet ? meaning cereal grains in Ukrainian ? has an intricate clay facade. Made up of four separate pieces, the facade sits inside a wooden frame.
The first cabinets with ceramic doors, called Pechyvo, meaning crackers, were launched in 2014.
It took Faina around eigh...