Photo: Yevhenii Avramenko
YOD Group's Terra restaurant and WOO brand chair won the American Best of Year Awards.
Terra restaurant by YOD Group won the best in the Hotel Dining nomination. This restaurant belongs to the Emili Resort Hotel complex, it was opened in the summer 2022, in the city of Vinnyki near Lviv.
"It is all the more valuable that this particular project won - an institution whose concept manifests Ukraine and Ukrainian design. We called this approach "terroir design". When a project grows out of the area where it originated, it reflects its mood, color, natural and cultural landscape," YOD Group commented to The Village Ukraine.
In addition, another YOD Group project - the lobby of the Emily Resort hotel (Small Commercial Lobby category + Amenity Space) was in the award's final.
Also, an item from a Ukrainian design brand won in the Residential Lounge Seating category for the first time. This is a Play chair by the Ukrainian furniture brand WOO. It was created during a full-scale invasion and was first presented in September 2022 in Paris.
The Play chair has an accent shape as if assembled from several geometric elements. A bagel-shaped detail, fixed at an angle to the base, serves as a back. According to the designer Dmytro Kozinenko, the chair resembles a puzzle where several rings are connected, and where you need to find the right angle to separate them.
Woo is a Ukrainian design company that has been creating and manufacturing concise, sculptural and "playful furniture" for six years. Production is located in Kyiv.
Also in the finals of the award were Mureli by Makhno Studio (Large City Buildings category) and cafe "Dubler" by Balbek Bureau (Casual Dining category).