In the “Zbirka” bookshop onZolotovoritska Street, every book is more than just printed text. Each editionon the shelves holds its own special story, interwoven with human lives, art,and chance discoveries. The bookshop features areas such as art and design,architecture, culture and history, sociology and psychology, photobooks, andbooks about photography. The founder of the bookshop, Nataliia Kuzmenko, hasturned her love of literature into a unique space where past and present merge,and each edition becomes part of Kyiv’s soul. We asked the founder about herunusual project—photobooks in particular.
— Nataliia, how did the idea forthe project come about?
— I first started thinking about abookshop 10 years ago, when I was a student at the School of Philology of V. N.Karazin Kharkiv National University. I developed a brand strategy and even cameup with the name “Book Bro”. At 20, it seemed to me like a bold name. But whileI was looking for investors, a bar opened in the premises of KHNATOB (theKharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre named after Mykola Lysenko —ed. note) that I wanted to rent. Now the place has been boarded up fromthe outside; it seems to be standing empty. Ten years passed, I left the ArmedForces of Ukraine and returned to my dream of opening a bookshop. At one pointI had to choose: buy a used 2013 BMW 3 convertible, or open a bookshop. Thelatter won—one of the factors was having no parking space in the courtyard.Three months later, the “Zbirka” bookshop appeared at 2a Zolotovoritska Street,with a parking space. By the way, we won that spot over a sex shop that alsowanted to rent it. The spiritual triumphed over the bodily.
— Why do you call “Zbirka” anindependent bookshop?
— An independent bookshop is anon-chain, local bookshop format that does not belong to publishing houses. Thekey difference is freedom of choice, a curated approach to selecting books, andthe owner’s ability to make decisions single-handedly about the place’s values,principles, and overall mood.
— How do you manage to stock theshelves with new editions?
— In general, it’s not easy at all:searching for books—preferably rare ones—getting in touch with their owners.And then: paperwork, orders, delivery, explaining to couriers how to find us,unloading boxes, processing the shipment, calling the “Reporters” editorialoffice to say they sent the wrong thing, and repeating all the previous stepsagain—until you finally put the books on the shelves. Or it can be solved moresimply by hiring someone—for example, Masha—who will do all of this for you.
— Can you buy editions here, or isit more like a library / museum / gallery format?
— We sell everything that’s in thebookshop. Even books from my own shelf. It’s a matter of price.
— Tell us about the “guestbookseller” format?
— The “Guest Bookseller” formatappeared as an idea in response to my critical need for days off. At least oncea week I need to rest, so I need someone to cover for me. So I started invitingfriends who would support this initiative. In the role of booksellers,communications specialist Olia Nosko and Marichka Blindyuk have already triedit. As for the next guests, we’re only putting together the schedule. If youwant to try yourself, write to our Instagram @zbirka_bookshop.
— Tell us about photo editions thatare special to you. Maybe there are books with an interesting story?
— The most special photo edition forme is my first photo album, and it’s not for sale.
In fact, you can tell an interestingstory about almost every book. For example, once at a party I—on a whim—agreedto an adventure: partially sponsoring a reprint of an important book aboutUkrainian art by the Shcherbakivskyi brothers (“Oleksandr Savchuk PublishingHouse,” Kharkiv). The next morning my head hurt both from the party and fromthe invoices that had to be paid. But it turned out to be a good choice: wesold all the books from that print run that “Zbirka” had ordered.
The most interesting part begins whenphotographers tell the story behind a photograph: they add context, broaden thefield, frame the main image itself with a beginning and an ending, creating aunique story beyond the bounds of the shot. I was lucky to hear such storiesfrom Oleksandr Liapin about photos from the book “Dirky” (“Holes”), fromMykhailo Palinchak about photos from the book “Nezalezhni” (“TheIndependents”), stories from Dmytro Stoikov about photos from the book “Flow”,from Vladyslav Musiienko about his Maidan photos—also in the book “Nezalezhni”,and from Oleksandr Chekmenov about photos from the book “Donbas”.
— Tell us about the publications at“Zbirka” that are dedicated tophotography.
— The photobook direction is curatedby photographer Mykhailo Palinchak. He finds the best photobooks availablearound the world and puts them on “Zbirka’s” shelves. As for interestingeditions—everyone will find something for themselves here. People value booksdifferently. In this, books are somewhat similar to photographs. Roland Bartheswrites about this very precisely in “Samera lucida”. He explains that it is therecipient who gives a photograph its value: what may seem ordinary to you canbe vitally important to someone else.
Once I was buying out books from aprivate library, and among a pile of expensive and rare art books I found aphotobook with street photography of Kyiv in the 1990s. It was an ordinarycatalogue-type paperback. The owner of the library agreed to sell me all thebooks except this one, with the comment “I won’t sell it for any money,” whichreally surprised me. It turned out that in one of the photographs, hisgrandmother and mother—when they were young—are happily walking alongKhreshchatyk. Both have since passed away, and that photograph is a warmmemory, a kind of punctum for the owner within the book. Meanwhile, once from asecond-hand bookseller I bought a Martin Parr photobook very cheaply—she simplywasn’t interested in him. In fact, I have a story for almost every book on theshelf, but let them remain untold for now. Let them rest.
Currently, the “Zbirka” bookshop isopen daily: 12:00–20:00 on weekdays, and 10:00–21:00 on weekends.
Worked on the piece:
Topic researcher, text author: Vira Labych
Photo editor: Viacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary editor: Yuliia Futei
