celebrating the visible traces of touch
Clay, straw, linen, wood and recycled fibers appear throughout Victoria Yakusha’s work on thick textured surfaces that bear visible traces of touch and labor. Throughout her interiors and furniture collections, materials retain their grain, density and irregularity to create spaces that feel intimately connected to the landscape and long-term habitation.
Based in Kyiv, Yakusha has developed a design language that aligns with its principles Radical softness through touch and preservation through construction. Her practice moves between architecture, interiors, objects and installation work, although the works remain connected through a consistent material language.
The walls gently absorb the light and the furniture appears compressed, carved or compressed from raw joints. Natural pigments and rough fibers create surfaces that seem to hold memory naturally within them.
Victoria Yakuza. Image courtesy of Yakusha Studio
“living design” and the natural state of the place
Designer Victoria Yakusha often describes her philosophy as “living design”, a term associated with the idea that spaces and objects should remain connected to the environments and cultural histories from which they originate. This approach is made visible in her interiors through muted acoustics, raw textures and hand-crafted irregularities that slow down the visual experience of a room.
The works avoid decorative nostalgia. Rather, vernacular references become tools for continuity between past and present material practices. Ukrainian craft traditions, rural landscapes and domestic rituals influence proportions, textures and construction methods throughout the work.
Furniture from FAINA’s collection often resembles geological formations or archaeological fragments shaped through hand finishing and natural joints. Many pieces appear intentionally porous and slightly uneven, allowing the physical properties of the material to remain visible.
Duzhyi collection. Image courtesy of Yakusha Studio
buildings and architecture formed through natural associations
One of the clearest examples of this thinking occurs through ztista, Victoria Yakusha’s experimental material composed of clay, straw, wood chips, cellulose and recycled paper. Used on furniture and interior surfaces, the composition creates thick tactile forms with a matte, heavy appearance.
The material is particularly relevant to the theme of Radical Softness because it showcases environmental reciprocity and low-impact construction without turning sustainability into a brand language. Zista surfaces appear absorbent and dense, with visible fibers embedded throughout. The material changes subtly under light and shadow, emphasizing texture over smoothness. In Yakusha’s interiors, this physical density creates spaces that feel grounded in physical experience and environmental proximity.
Her works also resist the speed associated with highly industrialized production. Handwork remains visible throughout the casting, shaping, painting and finishing processes. This emphasis on touch gives the work a different rhythm. Furniture and spaces seem designed to age gradually, accumulating wear and material depth over time.
Victoria Yakusha Space, Yakusha Studio, Miami FL, 2025. image courtesy of Yakusha Studio
softness as cultural endurance
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Yakusha’s work has taken on an additional level associated with cultural preservation and collective endurance. The works increasingly speak of architecture and design as containers of memory in times of instability and displacement.
This context deepens the relationship between her work and Radical Softness. Softness, in this case, works through continuity, protection and environmental familiarity. The materials themselves become bearers of cultural identity through craft traditions, local resources and integrated forms of construction.
The spaces created by Yakusha often feel deliberately close to the body through scale, touch and atmosphere, creating environments shaped around inhabitability and emotional endurance rather than visual extravagance.
Vhory Interior, Yakusha Studio, Carpathian Region, Ukraine, 2022. Image courtesy of Yakusha Studio
ZTISTA Collection. Image courtesy of Yakusha Studio
