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Find pretty dolls, handmade beads and other cool items to add color to your life at Veshchichka boutique. Oleksiy Boyko You like original and high quality handmade accessories and keep surfing through Andriyivskiy Uzviz in vain? Or maybe you’ve already made something cool with your own hands and want to sell it?

Or, perhaps, you want to learn how to make small pieces of art to finish off your look or decorate your apartment? You’ll be able to satisfy all those needs at the art boutique Veshchichka (Little Thing), also known as Azur, an absolutely unique place that combines a store and a workshop in one.

Its very location is something peculiar. When you arrive at Kontraktova Ploshcha, go down Nyzhniy Val street, find house No. 23 and walk through the brightly painted arch. Go up the colorful stairs on your left to the second floor and behind the green door sits Veshchichka. Like a magician’s chest, the shop unfolds its cache for you.

One room showcases an amazing assortment of artist’s accessories and materials. The stands are filled with paint from the manufacturers Lefranc & Burgeois, Ferrario, Charbonnel and Tylip; pencils, pastel and chalk by Conte-a-Paris, Rotring, and Lyra; covering liquids by Deco Matt, Deco Gloss and Deco Effects; and brushes by Da Vinci. And, of course, canvas and paper, the basics for painting and drawing. In addition to Italian canvas by Pintura and paper from the noted French company Canson (various kinds of plain and colored paper for drawing, modelling, decorating, and all painting techniques) there is a wide choice of Indian hand-made Khadi paper. It’s made of natural cotton, silk, herbs and exotic tree bark – the so-called Islamic and Japanese paper. When I saw the abundance of sheets with parts of pressed flower petals and stems, I just couldn’t help buying some of them, though I didn’t exactly need such paper for anything. Lately, I've successfully used it as giftwrapping. Among rare materials, there are calligraphy and aerography sets, as well as decorating materials. And the most interesting part: materials for your hobbies that include plaster for modelling and origami, foil, mica, paints for glass and fabric, thermo stickers, mosaic sets, spangles, beads, contour scissors and whatnot. Additionally, one of shop’s many shelves displays something your child will admire for sure – paints for finger painting.

Another room is dedicated solely to works by teachers and students of the local studio. The rough blue and green shelves are lined with funny clay figures, beads, rings, brooches (Hr 75), glass, plastic and wooden earrings (Hr 25 to Hr 75), pendants in the form of insects made of electronic elements (Hr 120), and pieces of decorum like mirrors in stained glass frames, wooden and metal picture frames, toys, vases with artificial flowers and berries, and all kinds of strange things. In addition to accessories, there is a narrow choice of clothing – dresses and colorful Indian-style tunics, scarves, fabric bags and slippers. You might come across the work of a future Ukrainian design star. Once, for example, the shop carried clothes by the modern Ukrainian designer Tatyana Karambol, whose creations at Ukrainian Fashion Week in 2006 were adorned with accessories by Abra Kadabra (that’s her nickname), also presented in the art boutique. You may also be lucky enough to spot an item by Vivienne Westwood for example, so be attentive.

While admiring all these handmade art treasures, keep in mind that you can make all these cool things by yourselves at thematic workshops and courses. Right now, people without any art education can enroll in a “Basics of Painting and Drawing” course, which includes 12 painting classes (Hr 1280) and 10 drawing classes (Hr 1000), each three hours long. During the course, students can learn how to handle oils, watercolors, acrylic paint, pencils, and charcoal. The prices include all materials needed. The classes will take place not in Veshchichka art boutique, but in Azur studio at Sevastopilska Ploshcha, and you need to apply in advance.

Over the course of a year, Veshchichka holds different workshops dedicated to the making of souvenir dolls (Hr 150 for four lessons), stained glass pictures and toys (Hr 110 for the course), decorations (Hr 180 for the course), and oil painting for children (Hr 60 for one lesson), as well as recreational painting classes (Hr 95 for one lesson), that claim to reduce stress and harmonize your consciousness. Every day (excluding weekends) from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Azur studio holds classes for kids from 5 to 10 years old in the art cafe Antresol on Shevchenko boulevard, during which they learn to work with stained glass. One lesson will cost you Hr 60 and includes all materials. Of course, you need to contact the teacher at 8-066-229-7959 before coming.

Veshchichka art boutique (23 Nyzhny Val, second floor, through the arch, 417-2672);

Azur studio (8/1 Sevastopilska Ploshcha, 223-6814);

Antresol (2 Shevchenka Boulevard).