NEW YORK — As understatedly well-dressed guests filtered into the “i’m u are” cocktail party Thursday night, a crew of Ukrainian volunteers scurried two floors below painting wall text and realigning mannequins within the Ukrainian Creators Fair.

Adaptability is something that most of the 120 makers that showcased on the inaugural event now know inside and outside. Taking a moment to talk while meticulously applying wall text, artist and filmmaker Yarema Malashchuk sized up the situation. “There’s war in Ukraine, but Ukraine is just not only about war. Hopefully I’m working for and representing my country, by spreading the word about what is going on there and what’s happening in contemporary Ukrainian culture.”

His work reflected the resolve that exists amongst many Ukrainians. Visitors can view a movie and photos of the standard house that Malashchuk and a team built as an art installation in Dusseldorf, Germany, and later dismantled and reassembled in Ukraine. “That is like reverse ready-made,” he said.

Planning to return to Ukraine in two weeks, he said, “Individuals are very united. When horrible things occur, people get united. You’re feeling this unification if you walk down the road and enter different places. Cafés are still working — you’ll be able to have a pleasant IPA beer and interesting food.”

The event’s manifesto borrows from Hryhorii Skovoroda’s philosophy of unequal equality. To that end, the essential gallery’s anchor display is of a fountain filling different-sized dishes with equal amounts. The concept is supposed to relay that each one of the people and creations could be different, but they’re united by the identical source — Ukrainian culture.

Covering 10,000 square feet in Skylight Essex’s just-opened Broome Street address, the showcase spotlights tech, art, crafts, fashion, cultural roots and photography. Upon arrival, visitors will face a billboard-size projection that floats images of technology and topography forwards and backwards reminiscent of a “burdei” atop the Carpathian Mountains after which a trendy woman in a sleekly minimalist room eating grapes with an Esper Bionics prosthetic arm. The contrast is supposed to underline the undeniable fact that half of the 120 featured Ukrainian makers have roots to the past and the opposite half in future-spinning.

Those that peered from the mezzanine to the exhibition below saw a floor design that was meant to evoke the inside of the Saint Sophia Cathedral that was inbuilt 1037.

Modernist colourful chairs, fashionable puffers, lab-grown diamonds and a lot of the other items on view were on the market. All the items on display were created at times during wartime, which included periods of invasions, shellings or blackouts. Last summer the thought for the event was first envisioned as compact, but comprehensible by Anna Pagava of the general public relations firm Gogola Agency, which has offices in Kyiv and Los Angeles. However the surge in interest led to a serious undertaking with 300 people attending Thursday night’s opening alone. To assist raise funds for Ukraine, there have been 6,000 tickets for weekend attendees. Many Ukraine-based people, particularly men, who cannot currently leave the country because of their military involvement, purchased tickets in support. An estimated $411 billion might be needed to rebuild Ukraine, in line with the World Bank.

Although the Lower East Side venue runs through Sunday, organizers are already exploring taking it to multiple other cities, given the interest and 6 months of logistics that went into its development. The musical arrangement was handled by Philipp Markovich and attendees on the opening watched a video from Volodymyr Zelenskyy. After seeing the plethora of wall space at Skylight at Essex Crossing, the production team decided to attempt to line up a video from the country’s leader and did so during his frontlines visit in Bakhmut earlier this week.

Wearing a “Back in Town” baseball hat, Nadiia Shapoval, a former model who now works as a designer and stylist, darted around inspecting her curation. Touching traditionally handwoven Gushka scarves, tapestries and rugs was encouraged to get a greater hand on their suppleness, due partially to having been made in streaming mountainside rivers and sun dried outdoors. Along with wood cutting boards and handblown glass, there have been more unexpected items like carved wood slats for making ravioli and an array of arty books that looked higher fitted to a Monocle shop. Many items had QR codes for post-event purchases via Instagram. Acknowledging the breadth of offerings, Shapoval said with amusing, “Yes, we’re an enormous country.”

Sustainable jewelry that comes with latest materials which can be typically used for spacecrafts and protective armor were on view, in addition to the brand’s lab-grown diamonds. The jewellery was developed within the Kyiv facility that holds the Guinness Book of World Records’ largest lab-grown diamond at a whopping 150 carats. The Freedom collection from Guzema High-quality Jewelry, a favourite resource of Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, can be on view. Despite the continued war, most of the goods were made and shipped from Ukraine.

A Gogola spokeswoman said, “Even in a time of invasion, this can be a moment of pride for us. All of our services are working, although not 24/7 because we do have a curfew. But they’re still working quickly. Every time the ability is out in Kyiv, the cafes have blackout menus so you could have something to eat even in the event that they can’t cook anything. Generators are in all places so everyone has adapted. A lot so, when the lights come back, there may be a sentiment of, ‘OK, I don’t know what to do with this light. The whole lot is working.’”

When it comes to fashion, a display for Ukrainian designer Julie Pelipas, a 2023 LVMH Prize finalist, requires AR glasses to view her futuristic work. Nearby, the work of 2015 LVMH Prize contender Anton Belinsky features passport-inspired photos of on a regular basis people wearing his T-shirts. The theme is a nod to Ukraine’s status as being the primary country to have launched digital passports in 2021.  A couple of steps away was an oversized photo of Ukrainian researchers in Antarctica wearing Ienki Ienki’s “Antarctic Expedition Parka” opposite fashion images of the brand’s colourful stylish puffers.

The intricate designs of clothier Anna October are featured in one other area and highlight the patterns and techniques that she discovered in vintage markets in Greece and France. Ukraine’s Ivan Honchar Museum is one other source of inspiration for traditional styles. “She tried to bring them into modernity to indicate that vintage may be and is cool,” Pagava said.