Gunia Project

Gunia Project is a Ukrainian fashion and design brand based in Kyiv. It was founded by Nataliia Kamenska and Maria Gavryliuk, whose professional backgrounds combine fashion, art direction, illustration and creative design. Kamenska had previously co-founded the fashion label Lake Studio, while Gavryliuk worked as an art director and illustrator. The project began with an effort to recreate the gunia, also written hunya, a traditional woollen coat associated with the Carpathian region. That object became both the founders' first product and the source of the brand's name. The chronology of the brand's origins is described differently by published sources. Vogue Ukraine places the first gunias in 2016 and reports that Gavryliuk joined the project a year later, while another Vogue account identifies 2017 as the launch period. The business was formally established as a brand in 2019, when it developed a permanent team and released its first complete collection in February. That collection combined ceramics, blown glass and scarves, establishing an approach that treated Ukrainian heritage as a starting point for contemporary design rather than as a purely folkloric style. Gunia Project researches museum collections, historical ornaments, ritual objects and regional craft practices, then translates them into contemporary consumer products. Early examples included silk scarves based on eighteenth-century rushnyky held by the Ivan Honchar Museum and collars influenced by the paper-cutting tradition of vytynanka. The brand has subsequently worked with Ukrainian craftspeople to produce tableware, vases, candles, jewellery, brooches, belts, garments, decorations and other objects for the home and wardrobe. Its products are generally positioned at the intersection of fashion, collectible design and cultural interpretation, with individual pieces often retaining visible references to Ukrainian symbols, ceremonies and decorative traditions. The brand's public profile expanded through a succession of thematic collections. Indigo, released in 2020, focused on one colour and combined Ukrainian carpet ornament with Asian-inspired motifs. Atlantes, presented in 2022, drew on the sculptural figures on Kyiv's Kozerovsky House and included jewellery, blown-glass vessels, a ceramic candle and silk scarves. Freedom, released later in 2022, connected ceramics, jewellery and knitted belts with themes of life, liberty and Ukraine's victory. Later collections explored Ukrainian wedding customs, including the ceremonial bread known as korovai and the decorated wedding tree called viltse or viltsia, as well as Christmas traditions, museum objects and traditional house painting. Gunia Project has also gained visibility through cultural and public figures. In 2020, a Gunia Project tableware set was presented to Pope Francis. In 2022, Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska wore a pin made by Guzema in collaboration with Gunia Project during a visit to the United States. In 2023 she wore a Gunia Project dove brooch inspired by decoration used on Ukrainian ceremonial bread. The company was included in Forbes Ukraine's Next250 profile of small and medium-sized Ukrainian businesses in 2023, while Gavryliuk had earlier appeared in the publication's 30 Under 30 list. The brand maintains a physical retail presence in Kyiv. It opened a shop on Antonovycha Street in 2021 and added a second showroom at 2-A Zolotovoritska Street in 2025. Its international visibility increased through the 2024 Vogue Ukraine Showcase, for which it created a ceramic look presented within the official Paris Fashion Week schedule and subsequently shown on the cover of Vogue Ukraine's summer print issue. Gunia Project remains active as a design-led Ukrainian brand whose commercial model depends on limited and thematic collections, collaboration with artisans, and the contemporary presentation of national cultural heritage.

Gunia Project emerged from the collaboration of Ukrainian creative professionals Nataliia Kamenska and Maria Gavryliuk. Kamenska had co-founded Lake Studio, while Gavryliuk's background included art direction and illustration. Their first shared project was the recreation of a gunia, or hunya, a traditional woollen coat associated with the Carpathians. The garment supplied the name for the future brand and established its central method: using historical Ukrainian forms as sources for contemporary design. Published accounts differ on the precise beginning of the project. Vogue Ukraine dates the making of the first gunias to 2016 and reports that Gavryliuk joined in 2017. Another Vogue account describes 2017 as the launch year. In 2019 the project was formally organized as a brand with a permanent team. Its first complete collection appeared in February of that year and included ceramics, blown glass and scarves. This initial assortment set the direction for a business spanning fashion, homeware, accessories and collectible design. Research into Ukrainian cultural heritage has remained central to the brand. Gunia Project has drawn on museum collections, regional craft practices, ritual objects and historical decorative patterns. Its early silk scarves adapted motifs from eighteenth-century rushnyky in the Ivan Honchar Museum collection. Other designs used references to vytynanka, a Ukrainian paper-cutting tradition. The company has also worked with craftspeople throughout Ukraine, translating local expertise into ceramics, glass, textiles, jewellery and clothing. The brand developed its collection strategy through focused thematic capsules. Indigo, released in October 2020, restricted the visual concept to one colour while combining Ukrainian carpet ornaments with Asian motifs. Atlantes, shown in May 2022, took inspiration from the architectural figures on Kyiv's Kozerovsky House and expanded the theme into earrings, a brooch, blown-glass vases, a ceramic candle and silk scarves. Freedom followed at the end of May 2022 and associated ceramics, jewellery and knitted belts with life, liberty and Ukraine's hoped-for victory. Subsequent work addressed ceremonial and seasonal traditions. The autumn-winter Korovai collection reinterpreted Ukrainian wedding culture through embroidered garments and beaded jewellery, including references to the ceremonial loaf and the decorated wedding tree. The Viltsia presentation was shown at Ukrainian Fashion Week in September 2024 inside Kyiv's Golden Gate, accompanied by live choral singing. Its garments were produced as one-off pieces and sold individually. In November 2024, the Christmas collection Dyvosvit drew from museum objects and traditional house painting, extending the brand's heritage-based vocabulary to clothing, jewellery, ceramics and decorations. Gunia Project's profile has been reinforced by institutional and public appearances. In 2020, one of its tableware sets was presented to Pope Francis. In July 2022, Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska wore a Guzema pin made in collaboration with Gunia Project when arriving in the United States. In December 2023 she wore a Gunia Project dove brooch based on a motif used to decorate Ukrainian ceremonial bread. These appearances linked the brand's objects with contemporary Ukrainian cultural diplomacy. The company also received business and fashion recognition. Maria Gavryliuk was included in Forbes Ukraine's 30 Under 30 list in 2021. Forbes Ukraine profiled Gunia Project in its 2023 Next250 selection of Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises. In 2024 the brand created a ceramic look for the Vogue Ukraine Showcase, where it was presented within the official Paris Fashion Week schedule and subsequently appeared on the cover of Vogue Ukraine's summer print issue. Retail expansion has been concentrated in Kyiv. Gunia Project opened its first shop on Antonovycha Street in 2021 and added a second showroom at 2-A Zolotovoritska Street in 2025. The brand's continuing activity combines direct retail, thematic product releases, cultural collaborations and international editorial exposure. Its identity rests on presenting Ukrainian heritage as a living design resource, with objects that can function simultaneously as fashion, home goods, gifts and material expressions of cultural continuity.

• 2025

  Second Kyiv showroom opens

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  The brand opened a second showroom at 2-A Zolotovoritska Street.

• 2024

  Scythian Gold charity necklace presented

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Gunia Project collaborated with Ukrainian cultural institutions on a charity necklace inspired by Scythian and nomadic artefacts.

• 2024

  Ceramic look shown at Paris Fashion Week schedule

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  A ceramic look made for the Vogue Ukraine Showcase was presented within the official Paris Fashion Week schedule and later appeared on Vogue Ukraine's summer cover.

• 2023

  Brand included in Forbes Ukraine Next250

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Forbes Ukraine profiled Gunia Project among selected Ukrainian small and medium-sized companies.

• 2022

  Atlantes and Freedom collections presented

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  The brand presented Atlantes in May and released Freedom later that month, broadening its architectural and patriotic cultural references.

• 2021

  Gavryliuk named to Forbes Ukraine 30 Under 30

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Co-founder Maria Gavryliuk was included in Forbes Ukraine's 30 Under 30 list.

• 2021

  First Kyiv shop opens

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Gunia Project opened a shop on Antonovycha Street in Kyiv.

• 2020

  Indigo capsule released

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  The Indigo capsule combined Ukrainian carpet ornament and Asian motifs in ceramics and silk scarves.

• 2019

  Brand formally established

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Gunia Project formed a permanent team and released its first full collection of ceramics, blown glass and scarves in February.

• 2017

  Gavryliuk joins the project

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  One published account states that Maria Gavryliuk joined Nataliia Kamenska's project approximately a year after the first gunias.

• 2016

  First gunias are made

  [1]Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Vogue Ukraine places the making of the first gunias, the traditional Carpathian woollen coats that gave the project its name, in 2016.

A contemporary Ukrainian fashion and design brand combining museum research, traditional craft, historical symbolism and collaboration with local artisans. Its products are positioned as premium cultural design objects for the home and wardrobe rather than as conventional mass-market fashion.

• Outerwear

  Gunias

  Traditional-style woollen coats associated with the Carpathians. The gunia was the founders' first reconstructed product and supplied the name for the brand. It represents Gunia Project's broader practice of using historical Ukrainian garments as the basis for contemporary design.

• Textiles and accessories · 2019

  Silk scarves

  Silk scarves are among the brand's early and recurring products. Some designs draw on eighteenth-century rushnyky from the Ivan Honchar Museum collection, while later capsules use Ukrainian carpet ornament, historical patterns and other cross-cultural visual references.

• Homeware · 2019

  Ceramics and tableware

  Gunia Project's ceramic range includes tableware, vessels, candles and decorative objects. The pieces translate Ukrainian ornament, ritual imagery and museum-derived motifs into functional and collectible objects for domestic use.

• Homeware and collectible design · 2019

  Blown-glass objects

  Blown-glass products formed part of the first full collection and later appeared prominently in Atlantes. The category includes vases and other vessels made in collaboration with Ukrainian craft specialists.

• Jewellery

  Jewellery and brooches

  The jewellery line uses Ukrainian architectural, heraldic, ritual and natural symbols. Products have included earrings, brooches, pendants and beaded pieces, including a dove brooch based on ceremonial-bread decoration and a heart pendant derived from Cossack heraldic motifs.

• Fashion collection

  Korovai collection

  The autumn-winter Korovai collection reinterpreted Ukrainian wedding traditions, including the ceremonial loaf and the decorated wedding tree. It combined embroidered garments with beaded jewellery.

• Fashion collection · 2024

  Viltsia collection

  Viltsia was named after the small decorated tree used in Ukrainian wedding rites. Presented at Ukrainian Fashion Week in 2024, it consisted of one-off garments shown in a staged performance with live choral singing.

• Christmas collection · 2024

  Dyvosvit collection

  The Dyvosvit Christmas collection drew on museum objects and traditional Ukrainian house painting. It included clothing, jewellery, ceramics and decorative pieces.

• 2024Scythian Gold

  Ukraine

  A charity necklace developed with Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and the Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, based on Scythian and nomadic artefacts.

  Outcome. The project linked contemporary jewellery design with museum collections and charitable cultural activity.

  Source
• 2022Freedom

  Ukraine · International

  A collection devoted to life, freedom and Ukraine's victory, expressed through ceramics, jewellery and knitted belts.

  Outcome. The collection extended Gunia Project's use of cultural design as a means of expressing contemporary Ukrainian identity.

  Source

• 2025

  Expand Kyiv showroom presenceOther

  Background

  Gunia Project continued developing a local showroom network in its home city.

  Action taken

  The brand opened a second showroom at 2-A Zolotovoritska Street.

  Aftermath

  The expansion gave the brand an additional physical location in central Kyiv.

  Source

• 2021

  Open a direct retail location in KyivOther

  Background

  The brand expanded beyond collection releases and cultural collaborations into direct physical retail.

  Action taken

  Gunia Project opened a shop on Antonovycha Street in Kyiv.

  Aftermath

  The shop became the brand's first identified permanent retail location.

  Source

• 2019

  Adopt a permanent-team brand structureStrategy

  Background

  After the initial experimental work around reconstructed gunias, the founders developed the project into a formal brand with a permanent team.

  Action taken

  Gunia Project launched its first full collection across ceramics, blown glass and scarves.

  Aftermath

  The move established the multidisciplinary product model that continues to define the brand.

  Source

1. 1Gunia Projecten.wikipedia.org