"Life of Things": how the exhibition at MLYN design HUB rethinks the biography of an object
In Kyiv's Podil district, inside a former industrial mill, the fourth wave of the curatorial project "Life of Things" has opened, a joint initiative of MLYN design HUB and design studio Between the Walls. It isn't the first edition of the series, but this wave is the first to consider the object not as a finished product, but as a living structure with its own trajectory: from sketch to the loss of function.
The exhibition is curated by Victoria Karieva, co-founder of Between the Walls. At its core is the idea that no object comes into being at the moment of production, and none disappears after it is sold.
Every object goes through its own cycle: it takes on new meanings, changes function, and lives several "lives" in different contexts, from the workshop to the interior, from new object to vintage artefact.
The exhibition unfolds as a sequence of three themed zones.
Birth is a space dedicated to intuitive exploration: sketches, prototypes, first production decisions. The objects here are shown freely. Visitors can look at them and touch them before they have become anyone's property or entered a specific interior.
Second Life is the zone where the object begins to age. It brings together vintage pieces and new objects made from recycled materials; the key theme of this stage is sustainable design and the reuse of resources.
End of the Cycle, the third space, explores the moment when an object gradually loses its function and original meaning, a reminder of the impermanence of every material form.
"We are interested not only in the final object, but in the tension between intention and material. Because every object, once it leaves production, goes on living, no longer only as design, but as part of human experience," says the designer.
Photography: Roman Chornyi
The project features AM+O, BROOX, 4corners, Matro, especial home, KINT, TIVOLI, Anumo plastic, TIINI, SUSYspace, ALMOST DONE, Einrou Studio, Anton Kuzmin and other Ukrainian design brands: in effect, a cross-section of the country's current object design scene.
The exhibition is set in a former industrial mill in Podil, a place whose own transformation echoes the theme of the project. Where grain once went through processing, there is now a conversation about how objects transform and how they interact with people and time.
Photography: Roman Chornyi
Beyond the main exhibition, visitors can see the objects in staged living spaces, explore a materials zone with a range of finishes, and join curator-led tours and professional community events.
Photography: Roman Chornyi
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