CodeKY does not merely sell works of art, it creates a space for living among art. It shapes taste.
— Yulia, how did CodeKY begin?
It all started once with a very simple idea — I wanted people to fall in love with contemporary art, to become interested in it. I was always interested not in the work itself, but also in the person who brought it into the world: their talent, their story, the environment in which they create, what inspires them.
Then the world suddenly changed for all of us. First the pandemic, and then war came to Ukraine, where my roots are. The Ukrainian market practically came to a halt, and in time the project had to be put on pause.
But during that time the idea itself became deeper.
Today CodeKY is developing no longer only as a venue for contemporary art alone; we are introducing a range of offerings on the platform for interior design. We have built a modern team — myself and my partners in the project — and thanks to our joint efforts the project is living and growing again. Also, during the war, we were supported by the patron and collector from Portugal Paulo Tavares..
We are creating a space in which art naturally enters everyday life.
— And how do you position CodeKY today? A platform, a marketplace, a gallery?
Probably none of these definitions fits us entirely. Yes, on CodeKY you can find and buy things. But I never wanted to create just another online store. We want to create an environment.
Here art, interior objects, furniture, lighting, decor, vintage, resale, jewellery and accessories come together. But we are interested not in the number of categories, but in how they combine with one another. We do not want to be a place where there is a lot of everything. We want to be a place where things are well chosen.
— You speak about choice. Is that your curatorial position?
Yes. I am interested not simply in showing a person a thing, but in giving them the chance to see it.
Why is this object here? Who created it? What is special about it? Why does it look good precisely in this space or next to another thing?
We do not want to dictate: «This is beautiful, and this is not». We find it more interesting to open up the context for a person and let them feel the difference for themselves.
— Yulia, you often speak about taste. What is taste for you in general?
Taste is not a set of rules and not the ability to tell the expensive from the cheap. It is the ability to see proportion, quality, material, light, history, talent.
And also — the ability to choose not because something is fashionable or customary, but because you understand and feel why this thing is close to you.
I have no wish at all to dictate taste to a person. I want to give them the chance to see more.
And here the word «breeding» is close to me. Not origin. Not money. Not social status.
Breeding is what cannot be bought together with an expensive thing. It reveals itself in the way one speaks, looks, chooses, treats people, space, things. In naturalness and unaffectedness. In dignity. In the ability not to have to prove one's worth.
— Why is beauty so important to you at all?
Because I do not see it as an ornament to life.
Beauty for me is a way of feeling the world.
It can be in a painting, in an old armchair, in architecture, in light, in fabric, in a piece of jewellery or even in a very simple object — but one to which the heart is drawn.
I like it when a person does not merely surround themselves with beautiful things, but begins to notice them — the material, the form, the age, the history, the hand of the maker. To define with them the space in which they exist and which they themselves create..
That is probably why it is hard for me to separate beauty and intellect.
Intellect allows you to see more, and beauty gives this an emotional dimension.
— So for you art does not exist separately from everyday life?
Exactly so.
That is why alongside art on CodeKY there is home decor, design, vintage and resale of interior objects.
We do not divide them into «high» and «secondary».
A good object is able to tell about time, culture, material, technology, its author and the person who chose it.
Resale for us is also not merely reselling. It is an opportunity to continue the story of good things, to return them to contemporary life and let them meet a new person and a new space.
We want to create an environment where art does not exist separately from life, and design does not exist separately from culture.
— And CodeKY also has jewellery and accessories. Is this already the territory of personal style?
Yes.
We present to users jewellery and accessories created by makers and designers: custom jewellery, bags, belts, eyewear, scarves and shawls.
The notion of couture is close to me — but not in the sense of high fashion and the runway.
For me the notion of "couture" is a principle of uniqueness. When a thing is created not for mass production, but is born out of an idea, craftsmanship and the desire to make something special. Sometimes in a single copy, sometimes in a very small quantity.
A piece of jewellery or an accessory can be an independent work of art, part of a look, or an object with a story of its own.
We invite makers and designers to present their work on CodeKY, and collectors — to reveal to our audience rare and interesting pieces from their collections.
This is how the author's talent, the thing, and the person able to see it come together.
— The CodeKY platform also features young artists. You introduced a competition for young artists — this is your patronage activity as a project. Why is this direction so important to you?
Because talent and opportunity are not the same thing.
We introduced an Open Call for students of art schools, because we want to find talented authors at the very beginning of their professional path and support them.
Sometimes a person needs only one chance: to be seen, to have their work presented, to be introduced to the right people, to be given a professional contact, to be helped to understand where to move next.
I want CodeKY to be able to become such a first professional point.
Together with our partners we plan in the future to create a fund to support young artists and to bring patrons into it, but these are larger-scale projects of the future. For now we work within the platform and its possibilities. I like the thought that one day we will be able to say:
«We saw them before the whole world saw them».
— So a whole community is gradually forming around CodeKY?
That is exactly what I want.
An artist, a young talent, a designer, a maker, a collector, a curator, a person who is only beginning to get acquainted with art, a patron, the CodeKY team — all of us can be part of this system.
Not a store around art, but a community around culture and within a cultural environment..
So that the artist finds their viewer, the designer — their like-minded person and client, the collector — someone who is genuinely interested in their piece.
And so that a person who previously thought that art and design were «not for them» suddenly discovers a perspective of their own and tries to create a space for themselves, to uncover the beauty within.
— Yulia, what role do you play in this system?
I am the author of the project. I suppose I generate the ideas.
I like to inspire and to connect.
An artist — with an opportunity. A collector — with someone able to appreciate their collection. A young author — with a professional environment. An object — with a space in which it will truly resonate.
But CodeKY has never been and is not a one-person project.
I have my vision, my story and my perspective. But the project exists thanks to the people who work beside me and together with me and who believe in it. It is the team and my partners who turn an idea into a living system. This is our shared work. Their views and aspirations also coincide with my own vision...
— Is the name CodeKY connected with you personally?
Yes. In this sense CodeKY is my personal code: my world, aesthetics, taste, attitude to beauty and culture.
But it is not a personal blog and not a space where I try to impose my own idea of the beautiful on people.
My perspective is only one point of view.
It is far more interesting to me when a person comes to CodeKY, looks, and gradually discovers a taste of their own.
— CodeKY is now going beyond the Ukrainian market — or rather, you are already selling in France, Spain, Italy?
Yes. The war quickly integrated Ukrainian artists with European institutions and their colleagues. The times today call for creating integrative cultural projects, which prompts us to build more actively an international space for the development and expansion of the platform's possibilities.
Beautiful things have never known borders. And good taste all the more so.
I want CodeKY to be a place where different cultures, eras and contemporary authors meet.
— And what do you want a person to feel when they come to CodeKY?
I want them to come not only with the thought: «I need to buy something». I want them to stop.
To see a painting, an armchair, a lamp, a piece of jewellery, an old object, an unusual accessory or an entire space.
And to think:
«Oh, this is about me».
Or even:
«I have never looked at it that way before».
A purchase may be the result. But for us it is not the only goal.
I am far more interested in the moment when a person begins to see the world a little differently.
— And still, if we asked you to put CodeKY into one phrase?
We do not sell you beauty.
We live in a space of beauty and invite you into our universe.
And that is probably why CodeKY for me is not a catalogue of things.
It is an invitation into a space where you can live among art, get to know talented people, discover new names, find things with character and gradually form a perspective of your own.
We do not want to create a uniform of taste.
We want to give a person the chance to create their own perspective.
Because in the end CodeKY is not about telling a person what they like.
It is about helping them one day see the beauty of creation for themselves.