Guns, drones and doves: War reshapes jewellery scene

In a Kyiv workshop, a jewellery maker was putting the finishing touches to her latest piece – blow-torching a necklace pendant into the shape of a drone propeller. With works that resemble bullets, tanks and peace doves, resisting Russia’s invasion is inspiring a new wave of designs reflecting a country, society and artistic scene transformed by the four-year conflict. The shift is being driven by demand from both the military and civilians.

“It’s part of a soldier’s identity,” said Illia, a 26-year-old craftsman with the Karpenko brand, holding the just-finished pendant resembling the blades of a reconnaissance drone. The brand also makes pendants with stones from Snake Island – the Black Sea outpost that became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance after a radio exchange of Kyiv’s soldiers’ expletive-laden rebuff to a Russian warship’s demand to surrender went viral.

“They in a certain way identify a soldier. If you work with drones, it is visible that you work with drones. If you are in a tank...,” he said. Its founder, Oleksii, joined the army after Russia invaded in 2022 and the company markets itself as “from a soldier for soldiers.”

“There are brigades — entire large brigades — that order corporate orders. They order pendants for the whole unit,” said manager Svitlana Karpliuk. Military-inspired pendants are the most popular product — also used to “honour” fallen comrades, she added. Many of the designs — particularly small drone-themed pendants — are popular among civilians, too.

At the Karpenko workshop, a woman was buffing and polishing a chunky silver bracelet in the shape of tank tracks. Through four years of relentless Russian attacks, many Ukrainians have imbued parts of the war into their daily life — adopting the symbols of conflict to show their defiance or remember those killed. Music, culture, art and fashion have all been transformed. Jewellery maker Kateryna Tytova was forced to flee from the eastern city of Donetsk — under Russian occupation since 2014.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, her workshop in Gostomel, on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, was destroyed. Now rebuilt, she designs and produces pieces based on viral content and war memes — a way, she says, to preserve the memory of war for future generations. “Later some child will ask, ‘Grandma, what is that pendant you have?’” she said, holding a small silver piece resembling a cotton bud — a reference to a widespread language meme in Ukraine mocking Russia.

In her small, messy workshop — an elevated brick and wooden house — she placed some recent designs on a stone slab. They include a depiction of the national “Motherland” statue holding up two middle fingers and a landmark tower from Mariupol — the southern city captured by Russia in 2022 after a brutal weeks-long siege.

It is not just independent designers that are being inspired by the war — luxury boutiques have also joined the trend. At the Dukachi jewellery store, a cracked window — patched with tape after a recent strike — looks out onto Kyiv’s Maidan Square, where processions for fallen soldiers regularly take place. Pendants in the shape of traditional motanka fabric dolls — believed to offer protection — are among the most popular.

Store manager Liudmyla, 27, said one customer credited the piece with saving her during a recent strike on a nearby building. “She was wearing our motanka during the strike. They survived, they were not injured, and she believes that thanks to the motanka they saved their lives. Now she never takes it off.” Days before Russia launched its invasion, the Tsvite Teren company launched a line of white ceramic peace doves — now one of its most popular collections both in Ukraine and abroad.

“We live in fire. Constantly. Even in Kyiv. That’s how it is,” said its founder Olga Ostapenko, clutching a box of the doves. “People who live in peace, who have lived and not seen it, they will never understand it.”

Reuters