About Us
Svitla Volka Design - sustainable brand of transformable agender garments
A design is based on a combination of minimalist ethno and futurism. Clothing is practical, functional, focused on bold individuals who influence society by their example. The important elements of our brand are sustainability and ethics, we try to rethink and make them an integral part of our activities, not particular moments. We currently use only 100% linen, which is an OEKO-TEX certified natural biodegradable fabric. All our garments are sewn in small local factories, by seamstresses who receive a fair salary. Trying to help our customers look different every day and save as many resources as possible (customers and the planet), we make clothes-transformer. We also make agender clothes, because we are sure that clothes do not have a gender and should not be a tool of manipulation. Clothing should give more freedom of movement and self-expression to each individual
Svitla Volkova
Founder, fashion designer at Svitla Volka Design.
https://facebook.com/svitlavolka
https://instagram.com/svitlavolka
https://linkedin.com/in/svitlavolka
Hello, my name is Svitlana Volkova I was born in 1991 in Kherson (a south Ukrainian city). I finished the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and I had been lived in the capital for 10 years. Now I am a founder and fashion designer of a sustainable transformable clothes brand. And I am a founder not because I aimed to make a business, but because I want to make clothes all my life. I started to draw clothes when I was 2 or 3 years old. And it was such a strong passion for me that I became a pattern maker when I was 13. But for a long time I considered it only as a hobby, I had a lot of other activities, was engaged in social and cultural work and important movements in my country and all this forms me as a person. And when I grow up and decided to make my clothes seriously I had all that background that today influenced my fashion brand. Today my core principles are ethical business conduct, environmental care, concern for quality, responsibility for the human's future, and rational approach. Also, my family history inspires me to develop my home region. So today I live in Kherson and I consider my work as a long-term complex project with a lean-manufacturing, creative hub, and residence for scientists. On the one hand that all will indirectly contribute to decentralization and an improvement of the level of education and involvement in public life for the population of the Kherson region, which is located on the border with the annexed Crimea. On other hand aims to provide consulting work, socially responsible production, which will help other young brands and will create conditions for the work of vulnerable groups of the population: such as people with the secondary narrow-skills acquisition, single mothers, and women on maternity leave; etc.
Marta Pogorila
Partner, project design manager at Svitla Volka Design.
https://facebook.com/marta.pogorelaya
https://instagram.com/pogorilamarta
Hey, my name is Marta Pogorila. I am project manager and design manager in Svitla Volka Design. I was born in Odesa, Ukraine, in 1981. My formal education is Masters Degree Philological faculty (Ukrainian branch) of the Mechnikov Odesa National University. Specialty: the theory of literature and comparative. From the latter, received in the framework of non-formal education, - the facilitator of the Active Citizens program with the support of the British Council. At the age of 19, I began to collaborate with artists as a volunteer curator. Currently I am the head of the international interdisciplinary art festival BSAF (Black Sea Art Festival) and curator of the international interdisciplinary BAR (Borcea Art Residency) in Romania. Due to my active public position in 2014, I became a co-founder of the NGO Congress of Cultural Activists, an international institution that develops a network of cultural activism and implements interdisciplinary projects in cooperation with regional initiative groups and international partners.
Yegor Volkov
Partner, CAO at Svitla Volka Design.
Was born in Kherson (Ukraine) in 1996. Finished Kherson State Maritime Academy in 2018 with, field of study sea and river Transport, professional direction Navigation. Main engagement is seamanship. In may 2019 became a partner of Svitla Volka Design and made the first investment of $ 2000. Today engaged in work with Svitla Volka Design as CAO and brand face. In this way I see the great way to achievements. I’ve seen many countries due to my job and analyzed their development ways and the experience made me want to develop my native region, become a business angel and realize myself in creative industries. Covid-19 gave me time for some 3D modeling education.
Anhelina Sardarian
Hi, my name is Anhelina. I was born in Kyiv in 1998, at the age of 17 became a co-founder of the charity Teenergizer. For 3,5 years I've been working in HIV/AIDS field, where we focused on teenagers and youth support in Ukraine and EECA region - education, human rights advocacy, peer-to-peer consultations etc. I also represented organization at international meetings - our projects were supported by UNICEF, UNAIDS and other titans of the field. I was in charge of our social media representation, did photography, wrote articles (mostly interviews), was an HIV/AIDS expert, held trainings for our team and teens, worked on our strategies, did translations etc - the team was tiny and we had a lot of ambitions, so everyone did work of at least five people. Social activism became a major part of my life for a few years - apart from HIV-related topics I volunteered at different art and culture projects, somehow became an actress in one play. Recently I've got a Master degree in philosophy at Taras Shevchenko university of Kyiv - right after that I've started working in Svitla Volka design and I couldn't be more happy about it. I share all brand's values and I am exited with my part of work as a philosoher and as a person that needs to let their creativity out. Now I write articles for this web-site and do our social media marketing - so if you haven't checked out our profiles yet it's the perfect time to do so :)
Anton Kolvakh
IT engineer.
https://facebook.com/anton.kolvakh
Hello, I am Anton Kolvakh! I was born in Horlivka (Donbas, Donetsk). In the past, I was a student of the Department of Political Science (currently it is my hobby). Since 2014, I began to engage in public initiatives, as a public activist I worked with relocated universities. There I got acquainted with the Active Citizens program from the British Council and became a master facilitator. I had a scholarship from the Kyiv Alpbach Initiative Group and participated in the European Alpbach Forum in 2017, and in 2018 I was a participant in the Open World program, in connection with which I visited the United States and researched the activities of Universities. After the public sector in 2018, I moved to the IT sector, where I started my way at UNIT Factory - Ukrainian organizations of the French IT School 42. At the moment I work in the IT field - a developer, devops engineer. In my free time I play board games, I like to communicate on different topics and discuss various social aspects and phenomena, facilitates (when invited), I try to share my own experience and knowledge with other people, I try to make the world and my immediate environment better.