In the bookstore “Zbirka” on Zolotovoritskaya, 2a, each book is more than just a printed text. Each edition on the shelves retains its own special history, intertwined with human destinies, art and accidental discoveries. The bookstore presents such areas as: art and design, architecture, culture and history, sociology and psychology, photo books and books about photography. The founder of the bookstore Natalia Kuzmenko turned her love for literature into a unique space where the past and the present merge, and each publication becomes a part of the Kiev soul. We asked the founder of the bookstore about her unusual project, in particular about photo books.
— Natalie, how did the idea of the project come about?
— For the first time I thought about the bookstore as a student of the Faculty of Philology of KHNU named after Karazin 10 years ago. I developed a brand strategy and even came up with the name “Book Bro”. At 20 years old, it seemed to me that it was a bold naming. However, while I was looking for investors, in the premises of KhnatoB (Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after Mykola Lysenko — N.B. ed.), which I wanted to rent, opened a bar. Now this room is covered with plywood from the outside, it seems that it is empty. Ten years passed, I quit the Armed Forces and returned to the dream of opening a bookstore. At some point, I had a choice: buy a used convertible BMW 3 2013, or open a bookstore. The latter took the upper hand, one of the factors being the lack of parking space in the yard. Three months later, a bookstore “Zbirka” appeared on Zolotovoritskaya, 2a, with a parking space. By the way, we won this place from a sex shop that also wanted to rent it. The spiritual triumphed over the bodily.
— Why do you call “The Collection” an independent bookstore?
— An independent bookstore is a format of a non-network, local bookstore that is not owned by publishers. The key difference is the freedom of choice, the curatorial approach to the selection of books and the ability of the owner to individually decide on the values, principles and mood of the place.
— How do you manage to fill the shelves with new editions?
— In general, everything is not easy: search for books, preferably rare ones, contact with their owners. And then: documents, orders, delivery, explanations to couriers, how to find us, unloading boxes, making deliveries, calls to the editorial office of “Reporters” with the message that they sent the wrong thing, and again repeat all the previous steps, and then finally put the books on the shelf. Or you can solve everything easier and hire a person, for example Masha, who will do all this for you.
---- Here you can buy some editions or is it rather a library/museum/gallery format?
We sell everything in the bookstore. Even books from my own shelf. Question of price.
— Tell us about the “guest bookseller” format?
— The “Guest Bookkeeper” format appeared as an idea in response to my critical need for the weekend. At least once a week I need to rest for someone to replace me. Therefore, I began to invite friends who would support this initiative. Communicators Olya Nosko and Marichka Blindyuk have already tried themselves in the role of booksellers. For the next guests, we are just making a schedule. If you want to try yourself, write to our instagram @zbirka_bookshop.
— Tell us about some special photo publications for you. Maybe there are books with an interesting story?
— The most special photo edition for me is my first photo album, and it is not for sale.
In fact, about each book you can tell an interesting story. For example, one day during a party, I readily agreed to an adventure of partial sponsorship of the pre-print edition of an important book on Ukrainian art by the Shcherbakivsky brothers (Alexander Savchuk Publishing House, Kharkiv). In the morning, my head hurt from the party and from the invoices that had to be paid. Nevertheless, the choice was successful, we sold all the books ordered by the “Collection” from this edition.
The most interesting thing begins when photographers tell the story of a shot: add context, expand the field, frame the main part of the actual photo with a lock and a limb, creating a unique story outside the frame. I was lucky to hear such stories from Alexander Lyapin about photos from the book “Holes”, Mikhail Palinchak about photos from the book “Independents”, Dmitry Stoykov's stories about photos from the book “Flow”, Vladislav Musienko about his photos from the Maidan also in the book “Independents”, Alexander Chekmenev about photos from the book “Donbass”.
— Tell us about the publication in “Compilations“,Dedicated to photographs.
— The direction of photobooks is supervised by photographer Mykhailo Palinchak. It finds the best photo books available around the world and puts Collections on its shelves. As for interesting publications, then everyone will find their own. People evaluate books differently. In this case, the books are somewhat similar to photographs. Roland Barth in the book “Camera lucida” writes very aptly about this. He explains that the value of the photograph is provided by the recipient. What may be normal for you is essential for others.
Once I bought books from a private library and among a bunch of expensive and rare books about art I found a photo book with street photography of Kyiv of the 90s. It was a regular paperback catalog-type book. The owner of the library volunteered to sell me all the books except this one, with the comment “I will not sell for any money”, which surprised me greatly. It turned out that in one of the photos his grandmother and mother are happily walking around Khreshchatyk in their youth, now both are deceased, and this photo is a warm memory, a certain point for the owner in the book. Instead, one day I bought a photo book by Martin Parr very cheaply from a bookie, he was simply not interested in her. In fact, I have a story about every book from the shelf, but let them remain untold for now. Lie down.
Now the Zbirka bookstore is open daily: from 12:00 to 20:00 on weekdays, and from 10:00 to 21:00 on weekends.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vera Labych
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
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