Everything begins with a mother's hands. Tamara Vasylivna Stepanenko watched from childhood as her mother embroidered — paintings, towels, simple everyday objects that became art with a single touch of the needle. That image did not simply stay in her memory. It moved inside her and became a quiet inner voice that grew more certain with each passing year. One day it became clear — this was not merely a passion. This was a path.
Tamara Vasylivna leads the trade structure of Ukrainian Art Industries. Art council meetings, work with artisans, a first deep immersion in the world of Ukrainian craft. Here the full scale of what exists in Ukraine reveals itself — hundreds of techniques, dozens of regions, ornaments thousands of years old. The tradition is alive. Powerful. The world simply does not know it yet. But that is a matter of time.
The atelier opens. The team — embroiderers with professional training. Later, designer Liudmyla Vasylivna Shcherban joins — with a natural feeling for ornament and an impeccable eye for colour. Together they begin systematic work — collecting techniques from every region of Ukraine, documenting each one, breaking each down to a mathematical formula. Over 100 different techniques. Each with its own logic, its own pattern, its own character. In parallel, a collection takes shape: antique garments, embroidered paintings, towels — everything that can be found. Preserved. Studied. Passed on. Step by step, an archive takes shape — one that exists nowhere else in the world.
Ambiente, Мюнхен The Ambiente fair in Munich — together with her son Serhiy. Ambiente is where the finest craft on the planet gathers. 160 countries. Each one showing what it is proud of. That year Ukraine shares a pavilion with several others — two square metres, a few vases from Dnipropetrovsk. The entire exhibition is walked in silence. No comments. But inside — a decision has already been made. The world will see the real Ukraine. Not someday. Soon.
the Towel of National Unity A large-scale project is born — the Towel of National Unity. Personally funded and coordinated together with her husband Stepanenko Mykola Leontiyovych. Nearly a year of work. Craftswomen from every region of Ukraine — each contributing her own ornament, her own technique, her own land. One towel — and within it, the whole country. The finished work travels the world. Dozens of countries. Thousands of people. Ukrainians in the diaspora came to see it — and for a moment, the distance home disappeared.
Anna and Mykola Gadzhaman cross the threshold of the atelier for the first time. Mykola is Tamara Vasylivna's nephew. They see the collection. Touch the works. Stop before the Towel. Listen. Stay silent for a long time. Something inside them shifts — quietly, but irreversibly. It becomes clear: this work must continue. Not as a museum. Not as an archive. But as a living brand — contemporary, relevant, for people who value what is real. The mistress of the atelier agrees. And so Gadzhaman begins.
Gadzhaman Gadzhaman is the family name. We thought for a long time about what to call the brand. And realised — the name already existed. It has lived in the family for generations. Tamara Vasylivna's maiden name is Gadzhaman. Mykola's surname is also Gadzhaman. Stepanenko Mykola Leontiyovych researched the roots of the name: the family is from the Kirovohrad region, where the river Adzhanka flows. From the river — the surname. From the surname — the brand. In choosing this name we did not simply choose a word. We chose the land. The roots. The responsibility to those who will come after us. Today we create new collections, work with artisans and bring Ukrainian embroidery to the world. And in 2021 our daughter Sofiyka was born. From the age of three she began to take an interest in embroidery and learn her first stitches. The tradition continues — and that, perhaps, is what matters most.