Yulia Melnychenko

Each piece of work embodies ideas of naturalness, sustainability, and timelessness. Their partnership is perfectly balanced: Yulia focuses on product development and brand vision as a designer, while Yevgen brings everything to life and scales it up. Yulia has dedicated herself to object design over the last 15 years of her career. Yulia and Yevgen regularly present the creative essence of their collections at world-renowned exhibitions such as Maison & Objet, Decorex, DDW, Paper Inside, Contemporania, Revelations, and more.

A distinctive feature of Yulia and Yevhen's work is their innovative desire to experiment with biomaterials, seeking forms and textures that tease and deceive the viewer. Sometimes, they casually and seemingly inadvertently reinterpret the silhouettes of Ukrainian utilitarian clay pottery, hence the warm, familiar from childhood, authentic names – Makitra, Glek, Banyak. However, the figures of the lamps do not mimic authentic prototypes, thus becoming transcultural, atemporal, and universally accessible. The second generation of gleks moves away from their ancestors, acquiring futuristic, extraterrestrial features.

In addition to experimenting with cellulose and clay, the authors also work with living biomaterials, growing various fungi for new projects. There is something archaic and ancient in these clay and cellulose textures, their warm colors, and smooth shapes, which can be read by Ukrainians and people in general.
In the vision of the artists, it is easy to read their soft but strong nature, one that avoids breaks, straight angles, shadows, and ambiguity. One that even in creativity, seeks stability in cultural and production dimensions. Yulia also says, "Yalanzhi Objects products should have temporal continuity, providing value for future generations."