CodeKY doesn't just sell art objects, 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 standstill, and in time the project had to be put on pause.
But over that time the idea itself became deeper.
Today CodeKY is developing no longer only as a platform for contemporary art alone; we are introducing a range of offerings on the platform for interior design. We have built a modern team — my partners in the project and I — and thanks to our joint efforts the project is living and developing 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 completely. 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 meet. But we are interested not in the number of categories, but in how they combine with one another. We don't 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'm interested not simply in showing a person a thing, but in giving them the opportunity to see it.
Why is this object here? Who created it? What is special about it? Why does it look good in this particular space or next to another object?
We don't want to dictate: «This is beautiful, and this is not». It is more interesting for us to open up the context to 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 it 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 opportunity to see more.
And here the word «breeding» is close to me. Not origin. Not money. Not social status.
Breeding is something that cannot be bought together with an expensive object. It shows itself in the manner of speaking, of looking, of choosing, of relating to people, to space, to things. In naturalness and unaffectedness. In dignity. In the ability not to prove one's worth.
— Why is beauty so important to you at all?
Because I don't perceive it as a decoration of life.
For me beauty 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 the heart is drawn to.
I like it when a person doesn't just surround themselves with beautiful things, but begins to notice them — the material, the form, the age, the history, the hand of the master. To define with them the space in which they exist and which they themselves create
Probably that is 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 art for you does not exist separately from everyday life?
Absolutely exactly.
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 just 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 that already the territory of personal style?
Yes.
We present to users jewellery and accessories created by craftspeople and designers: custom jewellery, bags, belts, glasses, 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 number.
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 craftspeople and designers to present their work on CodeKY, and collectors — to open up rare and interesting pieces from their collections to our audience.
This is how the author's talent, the object and the person able to see it meet.
— There are young artists on the CodeKY platform as well. 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 involve patrons in 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 craftsperson, a collector, a curator, a person who is only just 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 an artist finds their viewer, a designer — their like-minded person and client, a collector — someone who is genuinely interested in their object.
And so that a person who previously thought that art and design were «not for them» suddenly discovers their own point of view and tries to create a space for themselves, to uncover the beauty within themselves.
— Yulia, what role do you play in this system?
I am the author of the project. I suppose I generate 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 project of one person.
I have my vision, my story and my point of view. But the project exists thanks to the people who work beside me and together with me and 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 view is only a point of view.
It is far more interesting to me when a person comes to CodeKY, looks, and gradually discovers their own taste.
— Right now CodeKY is 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 the creation of 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 a whole space.
And to think:
«Oh, this is about me».
Or even:
«I have never looked at this that way before».
A purchase can be the result. But for us it is not the only goal.
Far more interesting to me is the moment when a person begins to see the world a little differently.
— And still, if we asked you to sum CodeKY up in 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 objects with character and gradually form your own point of view.
We don't want to create a uniform of taste.
We want to give a person the opportunity to create their own point of view.
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.