RUDA STUDIO
Design brand RUDA Studio was founded in 2017 by Oleksandra Rudenko and Yuriy Vovnyanko. RUDA Studio is a collective of artisans based in Odesa, Ukraine, creating unique objects for the home. Our work is inspired by natural materials and traditional artisanal techniques. Each object has a clear function, yet carries the presence of a work of art — an object that touches the soul, invites reflection, and encourages a rethinking of our cultural heritage.
Through our work, we preserve and revive the knowledge of Ukrainian folk craftsmanship, while bringing socially important environmental themes and the relationship between people and nature into focus.
As we explore the traditional techniques of Ukrainian folk artisans, we became interested in bringing the ancient craft of marquetry into a contemporary context. By combining functionality and aesthetics, we use straw as a distinctive material for creating unique objects.
Our studio is actively researching and developing this ancient marquetry technique. We have dedicated a series of works to it and continue to explore its possibilities.
The story of these objects begins in Western Ukraine, where 80-year-old Orest collects the straw used in our work. He carefully sorts it according to length and diameter. Once it reaches our workshop, the straw is dyed and then inlaid into the objects. In this way, the pieces exist somewhere between the past and the future.
