WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF PODYH
PODYH is a Ukrainian brand founded by architect Daria Plaksiuk. The source of every collection is architecture.
Each collection begins with a single architectural theme. We select landmark buildings and study them: how form and composition are built, which materials and techniques the craftsmen used, which principles they followed. These decisions move into the cut and texture, the detailing, embroidery and palette of the piece.
A floral capital blossoms into a volume of leather flowers. Marble, limestone and terracotta of Crimean architecture become the palette. The carving of Chernihiv houses turns into openings cut through fabric.
RESEARCH
Since 2021 PODYH has been studying architecture — from Kyivan Rus to European Art Nouveau.
- KYIV MODERNISM — Kyiv modernist architecture, 1960–1980
- KHUTIR — Ukrainian vernacular architecture and its craftsmen
- BRAMA — the architecture of Kyivan Rus
- KHYZHA — Lemko dwellings and the building traditions of the Carpathians
- MEREZHYVO — the carved wooden architecture of Chernihiv
- SARAY — Crimean architecture and the Khan's Palace in Bakhchysarai
- ART NOUVEAU — a study of Art Nouveau, each chapter devoted to a different geography of the style
- Chapter 1: BLOOMS — floral Art Nouveau in Belgium, France and Spain
The research now extends beyond Ukraine. The Ukrainian code is woven into the European context as part of it: Kyiv's House with Irises belongs to the same era and the same language as Horta in Brussels and Guimard in Paris.
CRAFTSMANSHIP AND MANUFACTURING
Work on every piece begins with a question: how to carry this across.
What follows is experiment — samples, trials, the search for a technique. The bas-relief of a stone facade was carried onto leather through 3D printing — conventional embossing would have lost the depth. Art Nouveau wall panels were rebuilt as a floral sculpture, assembled from around five hundred hand-formed flowers. A pomegranate from the Bakhchysarai Palace was reborn as embroidery and as a cast brass button.
The technique is chosen to solve the specific problem the architectural detail sets.
RESPONSIBILITY
We work with local manufacturers and workshops: hand knitting, embroidery, leather detailing, brass casting, work in wood and clay. The workshops are located across Ukraine.
Collections are produced in small runs. PODYH pieces have no season — their reference is architecture, not fashion.
THE ARCHITECT
Daria Plaksiuk graduated with honours in architecture in 2019. She learned to knit, embroider and sew as a child, from her grandmother, who worked at a Kyiv garment factory.
The brand was founded in 2020. Architecture and fashion first came together in 2021, in the KYIV MODERNISM collection. Since then every PODYH collection begins with architecture.
PODYH invites you to explore architecture and discover its value. Each collection is an invitation to look closely at a building: its composition and proportions, its architectural devices, the materials and techniques its craftsmen worked with.
