In Ukraine, the hurdy-gurdy is closely associated with such cultural phenomena as "startsivsto" - a name for a culture of traveling singer-musicians who used the instrument. In the 1930s this culture, along with its bearers, was physically destroyed by the communists. I set myself the goal of reviving the instrument to bring back the culture.

I craft the modern instruments using traditional Ukrainian examples but modernizing all the technical aspects. This way my hurdy-gurdies have both the historical aspect and the modern functionality. I regard my work as sculpting different materials for the service of music.

I would say I know that the hurdy-gurdy is well made if the client doesn’t contact me after the purchase. The hurdy-gurdy is a very technically complex instrument to tune so if the client doesn’t have issues with tuning that means that I have done everything well.

Once I wanted to buy myself a hurdy-gurdy. After discovering the cost I decided to make one myself. That’s how it started for me. I can’t say that I chose this profession, the truth is that I started really loving creating instruments and then clients sought me out. So my side hobby transformed into stable work.