Make My Cake, Kyiv | Ukraine | Yova Yager Design

This small project can be an example of that you don't need to be afraid to
start your own business even if you are young. You don't need to be afraid
of small spaces and crazy ideas. This project shows how can the latest
trends, simple materials, individual design and humor coexist together in a
small space.
We do not apply for genius, just create the mood.

With best wishes yours Kleydesign team.

Short project description
As a true foodie, designer Yova Yager believes that every person needs to develop their taste
buds constantly trying some new food. This idea of taste buds is further developed in the interior
in the form of patters on chairs, brass lamps, and the macaron cakes that also resemble them,
don’t they? Anyway, let’s tell the whole story from the beginning. Yova Yager skillfully juggles
with various trends: gold, fashionable shades of pink, velvet and fringe, without forgetting the
main thing, which is the sense of taste.
Long project description
The place where Make my Cake is now situated used to be an office. There was no need for total
replanning, but certain alterations were surely necessary. As a result, the space with the total area
of 50 m2, was divided into two halls with the seating capacity of 14 people. The white color was
chosen as the background – a pure canvas that can tolerate all kinds of stylistic experiments.
However, while stripping the walls off the layers of paint inherited from the previous occupants,
the designers revealed concrete structures and local yellow brick typical of Kyiv, and they
decided to keep them exposed. The concrete walls also remained. After all, background is never
the most important element in any interior design. In Make my Cake café, they key part is played
by the golden bar counter. In contrast to a bourgeois bar, the designer chose collapsible director’s
chairs decorated with prints created by Masha Reva*. The bar counter is a solid monolithic
element, whereas the chairs are movable and flexible. The former resembles the pompous Kyiv,
where the latter refer to the ironic Odessa. The interior has more to do with Odessa than it might
seem at first sight. It is not only about the brand itself which originates from Odessa. Masha
Reva, the artist, also comes from Odessa, although she has been living in Kyiv for a long time.
Chairs with her prints are not the only element in Make my Cake created by Masha Reva. Her
pictures are displayed on the walls of the café. For example, a picture turned upside down
featuring a girl who is watching the visitors from under her thick eyebrows is located right
opposite the bar counter. Striped matrasses are yet another graphic accent that reminds us of
beach holidays on the Black sea coast. The designer says, “When we think of Odessa, the first
thing that comes to mind is humor and some peculiar sense of homeliness. That is why we
introduced certain elements, such as a lampshade with a fringe- the one you may find at the place
of an old Jewish granny. Or a sun-shaped mirror, a handmade object manufactured by Ukrainian
craftsmen.” * Director’s chairs with the print designed by Masha Reva are part of the project
“12x12x12”, which was devoted to Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker who was illegally
convicted for political reasons. In 2015 twelve Ukrainian designers developed their own versions
of the classical director’s chair. They were displayed in Prostir 86 exhibition space. On the final
day of the exhibition a chair with the word Freedom on it was sold at an auction, and the money
was given to the filmmaker’s family