A Meeting Place for Beautiful Things

Even the simplest dinner service from the days of grandma’s youth can acquire a new brilliance. But if it’s decorated the wrong way, it may fail to create coziness in your home. Experts advise against restricting decoration to traditional flower and leaf patterns, and suggest using objects not in keeping with their original purpose. For example, fruit segments can be used as ornaments, or the table can be strewn with pages from a calendar, say, on St. Valentine’s day, to remind everyone of this important date.

Decorating experts dispensed their advice during a master class held as part of the DОcor and Giftware exhibition at the Trade and Industry Chamber of Ukraine. They also invited members of the audience to try their hand at the art of decorating, for example, selecting tableware of the same brand from a multitude of dinner services and using additional elements to arrange an inviting table setting. Given the fact that the tableware on display was a work of art, it was not all that difficult. There were examples of exquisite HПrmes porcelain, bold rose-ornamented cups from Roberto Cavalli, and Cristofle silverware. Some items were reproductions of items crafted by the company in the nineteenth century (we won’t mention their prices, so as not to sadden our readers).

The exhibition organizers acquitted themselves well. Countless beautiful things were assembled under the same roof: from trifles, business haberdashery, smoking accessories, and select stationery to wicker furniture, lamp stands, bathroom accessories, bed linens, and wall decorations. The exhibition also featured a company from Orenburg, which displayed their world famous kerchiefs that you can slip through a ring. An Italian company showcased its stationery products that were straight out of the eighteenth century: miniature bottles containing multicolored inks, quill pens, etc. There was an abundance of artificial flowers that looked natural even on close inspection.

According to the exhibition organizers, the domestic giftware and interior design market is burgeoning, and it is only logical that it should have its own exhibition. The Ukrainian market of “beautiful things” is currently home to 10,000 enterprises and companies. In the past two years the market almost doubled in size and generates between $45 and $60 million. The number of souvenir and gift importers increased by 2.5 to 3 times in the past two years. Imports of individual items (tableware, interior dОcor items, etc.) totaled seven million US dollars in 2002, one and a half times what it was in 2001. Jewelry imports in 2002 were up by 30% from the year before. According to the State Construction Committee of Ukraine, nearly 6.5 million square meters of residential space were commissioned in 2003 (including exclusive apartments), up by 6% from 2002. Profits generated by the Kyiv hotel business increased by 20% from 2002, while the number of new public catering outlets has been increasing by 60% every year. The demand for interior design services has increased by one and a half times in a matter of a few years. However, one of the specific features of our market is that companies import nearly half of all interior design items from other countries: Poland, China, Italy, Germany, India, etc. But that’s not the point. It is obvious that the demand for nice things suggests that the numbers of Ukrainians who are mostly preoccupied with earning enough to afford daily bread and milk are shrinking.