A WOMAN from Ukraine who left the country for Llangollen following Russia’s invasion last year has set up her own candle business with her host family.
Maryna Ustymenko, 27, has created “Ornate Candles” with Kim Evans, who she has lived with since moving to North Wales in May 2022.
Originally from Kyiv, Maryna found Kim through a website matching Ukrainians with host families since the outbreak of war in February 2022.
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She moved on her own, and still has family in Ukraine, but said that making her own candles has been “like therapy for me”.
Maryna said: “For the first two months, we were hoping the war would be over the next day; then, my sister, her children and I went to the east of Ukraine, to the safest part, for two months.
“But when that was no longer safe, she chose to stay in the country with her husband, while I decided to apply for a Visa to the UK.
“I lost my job, and all of our savings had come to an end, so I had to look for ways to support myself and my family. I didn’t know, when I went to the UK, if I would ever see my family again.
“I’ve been back to Ukraine since; my uncle was killed a month after I left, so I went to visit his grave this summer.
“Kim is a professional photographer, and has always been connected to art. Her sister gave me, as a present, a candle-making package, and I found it’s kind of been like therapy for me.”
Maryna and Kim make their products from home in Llangollen, and sell them via their website, which you can find at: www.ornatecandles.co.uk.
While Maryna has also found full-time work as an interpreter, Kim’s professional background was as a commercial photographer, taking photos at 1500ft from a Cessna plane.
Together, they add new collections regularly to suit different occasions and the changing seasons, with all products made “in-house”, and none of them mass-produced.
Maryna added: “Kim said we should do something more with this, so we started thinking about setting up our own business, and making something really beautiful out of it.
“We have so many beautiful products, so we’re hoping more people will find them.”
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