‘Pottery in the dark’

For Serhii Railian, clay became a way to rebuild his life after the war.

A veteran who lost his sight and both legs on the front line in 2022, Serhii went through more than 30 surgical operations before beginning to search for something that could help him adapt to his completely new reality. 

That path led him to pottery.

He joined a 45-day rehabilitation course in Vinnytsia supported by the United Nations Development Programme and Sweden, where a pottery workshop with experience in working with blind people introduced him to the craft. 

At first, he says, he was drawn to the technical side of the process. But over time, it became something more personal.

Through this work, Serhii found not only a new skill but also a new way of expressing himself and reconnecting with the world through touch.

What started as rehabilitation has since grown into a small professional brand run by Serhii and his wife Valeria from their studio in Kyiv. She first became involved because she was looking for an activity that would suit her husband, but pottery gradually became something they built together. 

Today, their work has already reached hundreds of customers.

For Serhii, however, this is not only about ceramics as an art or business. Together with his wife, he is also developing adaptive pottery for people with disabilities, drawing directly from his own experience.

They are already testing some of these pieces in a prosthetics centre. One of the ideas is simple but important: Tableware that helps a person eat more independently, without spilling food or turning a plate over. In this way, Serhii’s work is helping restore dignity and confidence in everyday acts that many people take for granted.

The project is not just about functionality. It is also about care, attention, and understanding what people actually need.

Supported through a rehabilitation initiative, this experience gave Serhii space to try something new and turn it into meaningful work. 

For Serhii, pottery became a bridge to a world he can no longer see but can still shape with his hands.

“At first, I was interested in the technical side,” he says. “But then I began to feel the soul in it.”