Description:

Smachno is a narrative cookbook that interrogates how design can safeguard cultural heritage. Born from auto-ethnographic research with my grandparents, it recovers Ukrainian foodways threatened by assimilation and time. The cookbook’s pages weave together handwritten recipes, archival photographs, and folk motifs, transforming them into a cohesive artefact.
Design decisions were informed by Ukrainian traditions. The copper-foiled cover references the 16th-century Peresopnytsia Gospel while the Coptic binding’s red thread echoes vyshyvka embroidery. Typographically, Kyiv Region’s historic ligatures and e-Ukraine’s modern clarity reflect the project’s balance of past and present.
Beyond its aesthetic, Smachno has sparked intergenerational dialogue. Family members who had never engaged with their heritage began asking questions, cooking recipes, and sharing stories. This outcome underscores design’s capacity to foster cultural reclamation—not just as a theoretical exercise, but as a lived, tactile experience.