We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ilya Gurevich. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ilya below.

Ilya, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Domovoi originates from Slavic folklore, and represents a spirit that lives within your household and is intended to protect it. Dobro Domovogo (Domovoi Goods) – has a dual meaning in its native language which unfortunately is lost in translation. Dobro (in Russian) means kindness, wellness, the good that one carries into this world. Another meaning for Dobro are physical goodies or small amounts of personal valuables.

Goods in Domovoi Goods meant to imply that this is a friendly, kind Domovoi that does good deeds for your household, because if you look it up, there are actually lots of evil looking ones. And of course the other more literal meaning of the hand crafted wooden goods. Initially, I didn’t like the word “goods” in the name, because it sounds like I’m trying to sell goods, which is not at all what this venture is about. However, because of this added meaning I decided to keep it. So yeah, the literal meaning behind the moniker is actually Kindness of Domovoi, and not at all related to saleable physical commodities as it unfortunately translates into English. The direct symbolism behind the prosperity and good luck sentiment that the Domovoi carries. Which is what I am all about – bringing a kind, positive sentiment through a variety of creative works.

Every time you hear a strange sound, or a sock goes missing, or a spoon disappears that you swear was just placed on the counter, or that dope shirt you haven’t seen in a while, or door slamming caused by a draft from a window, or suddenly running out of coffee that you just refilled – it said to be the doings of Domovoi. Essentially Domovoi is the scapegoat that you blame your poor household organizational skills and unexplainable brain farts on. It was fairly recently that I became aware that none of my American friends were familiar with the concept of Domovoi. It was a pretty interesting conversation to navigate out of, which eventually resulted in many inside jokes, and now this creative moniker.

The concept of Domovoi exists in many Slavic cultures sprawling from Siberian tundra to the Balkans. It’s something that the Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, Lithuanias, etc.. share. Once the war is over (it has to be over at some point, right?), it’s going to take a long time to overcome the animosity and prejudices that the current propaganda machines are setting into people’s minds to justify careless mass killings of each other. I may be naive and too optimistic, but I’m hoping that these little shared cultural commonalities such a Domovoi, will help overcome all this animosity, and show Slavic cultures that we are more alike physically and culturally, than different. It’s going to be a long road to friendship and solidarity.

Another symbolism (Might be my favorite one): cats are very closely associated with Domovoi, and are considered culprits and partners in crime. You know all those weird sounds you hear in the middle of the night and then realize it was just a cat? You hear some unexplainable sounds or commotion, think it’s Domovoi doing their thing, go to check it out and find a cat mischiefing around. That’s likely the reasoning for such close ties. Cats are regularly depicted along side of Domovois. If you know me, you know how much I love my precious BBs and how much joy/happiness they’re bring to our household.

I put a lot of thought into this particular, pretty meta, Domovoi sentiment. Would you expect any less from a pun master like myself? You know how Domovoi is a mythical creature, like a superstition from a Slavic folklore, so not many believe in its existence? And the ones that do believe are not sure whether it inhabits behind the oven, in the attic, or somewhere in storage, etc. I bless every work of mine including woodart, shadowboxes and prints with a little Domovoi Goods sticker. Guess what? If you have a creation of mine, your home now has a little Domovoi living in it blessing it with prosperity. Just flip the artwork over and there he is, smirking at you, delivering the GOODS.

Ilya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hello, my name is Ilya – an engineer by trade, and a creative by heart. I tell a story of multi-cultural existence through crafty works related to wood art and photography. Century old lath planks reclaimed from a Milwaukee home are used to create the wood art as well as unique & custom framing for original photographs.

I was born and raised in Minsk – capital of Belarus, a former Soviet republic. In 2000, as a teen, I immigrated with my parents to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here I finished high school, where I first discovered my passion to create in art class, mostly by copying punk album covers in various art forms while developing DIY ethic in the process.

Got myself through college by working various building maintenance and apartment remodeling gigs, where I learned my way around basic tools and general problem solving thought processes. This chapter of my life reinforced the rewarding feeling you get when creating something with own hands.

My creative passion had to take a back seat as I started a Mechanical Design Engineering career. The outlet to create by hand turned into 3D CAD modeling with hobby-mode curiosity in amateur photography. Many years in the industry made me develop a critical thinking, logical, problem solving mind that I now utilize in the process of making wood art. Ironically, it is the same objective mind that also creates lots of confusion and communication in my daily life as not everyone processes and interprets information as I do. Took me way too long in life to realize that.

In 2016 I entered the world of home ownership which came with an excessive amount of hands-on projects, and eventually a big pile of lath that I chose to hold on to hoping to repurpose in some way. In 2020 a random sequence of unrelated events ignited a creative spark within me that turned into this venture known as wood art. The random events included a peak of Covid lockdowns with no opportunity to travel or see friends, getting laid off from a full-time engineering gig and now having abundance of free time, and discovering wood art made of lath for the first time. I find Wood Art a very fulfilling outlet as it combines my creative and crafty passions, while letting me upcycle that “hard to throw away junk” that accumulated over the years.The initial works resembled geometric patterns in 3 main colors as my only tool was miter saw and my capabilities were limited to only angled cuts. I still work with these colors in an attempt to retain the natural look of lath. The 3 colors being: natural, white with plaster residue, and off-color pieces that are torched to black. Since then I got a scroll saw, table saw, wood burning kit and a newer miter saw which took my woodworking capabilities to a still modest, but a new technical level that keeps evolving.

Even while pursuing my engineering career, I’ve always dabbled in some sorts of handmade creative crafts that I mostly kept to myself. 2020 opened up a new wound in my soul as all of my friends were greatly impacted by political repressions resulting from post election protests in Belarus. My heart was aching for my friends and homeland. I felt pretty desperate to help in some way. The most helpful options were to bring awareness to the situation and to raise money for funds supporting human rights. My very first wood art series were released at the end of 2020. All proceeds were donated to numerous funds supporting politically repressed Belarusians.

Towards the end of 2022 the despair resulting from tragic world events kicked my mid-life crisis into higher gear and I decided to seriously pursue my life’s passion to utilize own creative talents in an attempt to reinvent myself as an artist. It’s been a relentless grind paved with dumpster fires along the way, but also with small moments of reward. Had some of my works selected for Gallery Night, two events at MARN, Art Bar’s 2023 mini show, and now this interview. So maybe it’s not all a waste after all?

First works were these “cool” geometric patterns. After making my first scroll saw piece, “The Barb Wire,” I realized that I’d like to do more of an artist statement type of works that carry personal sentiment. This created an opportunity to open up my introverted soul through woodworks sharing a bit of my life story in hope to resonate with others, who could have shared a similar experience: whether it’s growing up in Soviet era, immigration, life in midwest, music, photography, being an 80s or a 90s kid, or life in general. My main goal is to show how similar we all are as humans despite the skin color, location, beliefs or timeline we were born in.

Multicultural upbringing and international travel dispelled so many stereotypes that are based on general ignorance and state propaganda. We are all much more similar as humans, than we are different. I try to use my art to bring out some common sentiments that we all share as humans in an attempt to bring down this wall of imaginary division that the complex geopolitical system has created for us.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Making Art has some healing powers. There is something cathartic about pulling a sentimental idea from the depth of your soul that only exists in your imagination, bringing it to life in physical form through art, and then having someone else relate to that… that’s a connection, you can’t put a price on.

Also, the rewarding feeling of physically creating something from scratch with own hands. There was nothing here before, and now there is a physically entity that these hands made! This rewarding feeling goes beyond art, and also arises when a home project is completed.

I strive to repurpose materials that I find lying around, people donate to me, or that were left over from home remodeling projects. Minimizing environmental waste, and turning what normally is considered junk into art provides another layer of internal reward. At times I feel slight sense of guilt, when I’m unable to find the perfect piece to repurpose, and resort to going to a hardware store for solution.

I’ve only had a handful of commissions, but I love executing other people’s ideas. Every completed commission pushed my creative growth and had unlocked a new skill I didn’t know I had as I was challenged to create someone else’s vision that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own. I also go out of the way to make each work unique and special.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I’m trying to bring awareness to the historical upbringing and situations back home by providing a perspective behind own path. The initial perception of myself by others, especially on paper, is quite different than my personal life experience and worldview.

Some of my favorite works include 90s nostalgia pieces such as Cassette Tape, Floppy Disk and DOOM video game. These are some of the more exciting and pleasant childhood memories I had as a post Soviet kid, that I know every North American kid shared as well. I’d like to think that the shared memories like this brings us closer as humans.

In age of propaganda blasting from every news source available, it’s important to share genuine and authentic life stories that ultimately unite us as humans. The older I get, the more apparent it becomes that life and history is not as black and white, and is quite gray and complex. We all exist in the gray zone, but have to make choose black or white side.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DomovoiGoodsMKE
• Instagram: @DomovoiGoods (www.instagram.com/domovoigoods/)

Image Credits

All the images are by me.