Kononenko ID
Industrial Design Studio
Founded by Julia and Artem Kononenko, KononenkoID is a furniture, industrial, and product design studio with offices in Ukraine and Poland. They specialize in home products like chairs, lighting fixtures, flower pots. Their designs often combine Scandinavian and Central European influences.
Kharkiv, Ukraine
Get to know Kononenko ID
What was the inspiration for the light you designed on Gantri?
We were trying to capture the feeling and style of Scandinavia. The stripes on the light are like the waves on the water when you throw a stone in the North Sea. They are like ripples coming onto the shore on a windy day by the dark water. We wanted to give people the feeling of being by the seashore in a Scandinavian house, feeling cozy inside.
How would you describe your design style?
It’s a fusion of Central European and Scandinavian design. We love Germany’s Bauhaus school, which tried to bring together fine art and industrial design. We try to incorporate its focus on utilitarianism, simplicity, and natural materials. Julia loves to study the history of European design, and she loves Scandinavian culture. So it’s really a fusion of multiple styles cultures. Mainly, we just want to make affordable, interesting products that help real people.
What’s an example of that?
We designed a sofa that can be converted into a dining table with six stools. It’s ideal for the small apartments that many young people live in. We wanted to make it easy to convert by hand, and to keep it simple. So we didn’t incorporate electric parts, which would have raised the price anyway.
How did you meet and begin working together?
We met in Ukraine in 2012. I immediately realized that she was very talented, and I should support her in her passion for design. At that time, she was more focused on artistic concepts and not final products. We started working together spontaneously, and I began helping her realize her ideas. We then entered a competition together in Moscow.
So Julia is more focused on art, and Artem is focused on the practical considerations?
Yes, Julia is always looking at the form of the object — its shape, its colors, and how they combine to create beauty. I focus on the technical and engineering questions. How will we produce it? Does it work correctly? Is it easy to use? Is it good material? I’m a skeptic inside.
Do you agree about most things in design?
[Laughs.] There are some things we will not talk about.
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