Behind the Scenes

Getting ready for the upcoming Ukrainian Fashion Week SS25, which will take place in Kyiv from September 1 to 4, the UFW team reached out to the participating brands with a question: How is your brand coping with the full-scale invasion? In this article, the founding duo of the GUNIA Project — Maria Gavryliuk and Natasha Kamenska, discuss adapting their creative practices to a new reality. 

On February 24, 2022, we were preparing the spring collection and planning several strategic partnerships. But russia’s brutal attack forced most of the processes to stop. We had to focus on the team’s safety and adapt to the new routine. The team changed focus, and we switched to a remote work mode.

We are still working on overcoming many challenges, disrupted logistics, power outages, and other difficulties. But despite all the hardships of full-scale war, GUNIA continues to grow and develop. Team unity, flexibility in work approaches, and an ongoing pursuit of opportunities made us survive. In recent years, we have become much stronger. We have expanded our product assortment, increased our ceramic production, and expanded the team.

We understand that the full-scale invasion and war of russia against Ukraine only reinforces the significance of the GUNIA Project mission — to speak about Ukrainian culture, its uniqueness, and depth, demonstrating Ukrainian high-quality, trendy, and modern products.

The social component of business is an integral part of a brand’s DNA. We are proud that during these two and a half years, in addition to our main activities, we implemented or were involved in many charitable and social initiatives. In particular, we produced the historical ethnographic art album “Ukraine and Ukrainians” by Ivan Honchar in partnership with the Ivan Honchar Museum.

In 2024, we created a charity ornament dedicated to the return of Scythian gold to Ukraine in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy. Before that, in 2022, we created a collection inspired by the rooster from Borodyanka, a symbol of Ukrainian invincibility. Since the full-scale invasion, we have donated more than 3 million hryvnias and participated in more than 50 charity auctions and projects with GUNIA Project products.