On Wednesday, March 3, 2021, UAFM held a meeting that, despite all the misunderstandings and lack of rules of the game, brought together furniture manufacturers and designers for a friendly brunch.

The new format of meetings and a new platform for communication between the furniture maker and the designer received the conceptual name Design Brunch with UAFM

Why is this such an important topic ?! We all want Ukrainian furniture to be in great demand abroad so that our country is perceived not as a supplier of raw materials, but as a producer of finished products. To achieve this goal, you need to supply designer furniture that has added value and value.

It is no coincidence that Urban Space 500 was chosen as the Design brunch UAFM platform because it is a bright example of creating a product through unification, which is what we want to achieve as a result of our meetings – to unite!

The cross-cutting theme of the third Design Brunch with UAFM was the collaboration of the furnishman and the designer and the contractual agreements between them

The participants together with the speakers discussed three aspects of the collaboration between the furniture maker and the designer, namely:

◾️ real cases and what are the benefits of cooperation furnishman/designer

◾️ where to look for a designer ?!

◾️ rules of the game in tandem furnishman/designer

The first speaker was Ruslan Kovalenko, the owner of Neocon

Ruslan told about his collaboration with designer Vitaly Kirillov, co-founder of Hochu rayu. Innovative design in the project “Hey! Joy Toy store”. The project was implemented in 2020 in the United States, Mall of America Bloomington, Minnesota. And it became not just another toy store, but a space of discoveries. Each 1,000-square-meter meter is carefully thought out and designed to help parents understand exactly what their children want and that buying gifts can be fun for everyone.

This innovative format combines in its space a vivid emotional experience for children, interactive areas with areas of learning and development.

Recall that the project “Hey! Joy Toy store” won second place in the UAFM competition “Furniture of the Year” in the nomination Project of the Year.

The next speaker was another winner of the UAFM contest “Furnishman of the Year” in the nomination Serial Furniture Masterpiece, Leonid Spivakov

His collaboration with designer Yuri Rintovt was embodied in the ORGANiC collection. The ORGANiC collection forms an organic world that creates ideal conditions for being in the moment: every minute, every day, always.

The concept of the ORGANiC collection determines the dialogue of man, nature and the environment.

Combining in utilitarian objects the natural energy of life, living material and its vibrations, puts you in a new context of design and art.

ORGANiC collection from Ryntovt Design and RD.Furniture – furniture and light with different functionality.

Leonid told about the creation of the collection and his own experience of collaboration with the designer.

The topic, which was revealed later, is of equal concern to both furniture makers and designers

This topic became the leitmotif of the meeting, one way or another, revealing its cornerstones in the speeches of each of the speakers. Dmytro Novikov, the owner of Dmytro Novikov Design, spoke in detail about the rules of the tandem furnishman/designer game.

Dmytro’s report aroused the audience’s interest and grew into a series of unanswered questions.

The final speaker of the brunch, who focused on the undeniable advantages of collaborations between furniture makers and designers, was the speech of Andriy Rudenko, Cassone 

Andrew spoke about the metamorphoses that occurred with the company after the involvement of design.

The speakers’ speeches ended, but the conversation continued. In order to create a relaxed atmosphere of effective communication and increase the number of useful contacts, random seating was used. The organizers deliberately violated the limits of the comfortable choice of interlocutors, but the friendly atmosphere and new interesting acquaintances very quickly set everyone up for fruitful networking and made each guest a direct participant in the event.

No inspired work goes unnoticed. Our design brunches have a media partner – the Internet project The Architect!

We thank our friends and partners Serhiy and Svitlana Zaburanny, who were present at the event and took an active part in the discussion of the topics.

The event was also attended by Iryna Kolomoyets, founder of the project and President of the Made in Ukraine for Italy Association, co-founder of the Italian office in Ukraine Gruppo Italia.

UAFM invites everyone to be active and participate in our events, each of which is a meaningful part of a one process – our joint improvement and strengthening of the Ukrainian furniture environment.

 

Events that are planned to be held in the format of brunches are united by a common goal – the creation of quality furniture under a single brand Furniture of Ukraine with a modern Ukrainian design. Designer brunches will be held systematically, will promote collaboration and will cover important topics that will help achieve this goal – will add value to Ukrainian furniture and make them competitive and in demand in the world.

UAFM sincerely thanks all the speakers and participants of the third Design Brunch. Together we have taken a successful step towards understanding. We are grateful for honest, sometimes even harsh and straightforward, comments and advice. Finally, we have reached the required level of openness, which has made our dialogue what it should be for fruitful friendly cooperation. 

Let’s move on!

The next Design brunch will be announced soon, follow our events and register!