Never too late

It’s never too late to start a new life. It’s never too late to take a step towards your dreams.

Our heroes dared to change their lives at a respectable age and it was they who inspired us to create the “It’s Never Too Late” project.

For the International Day of Elderly People, we will tell incredible and brave stories of heroes through their personal belongings. The talented Sergey Zhernov turned them into exquisite jewelry, and they got a new life.

Roman Zubrytskyi, 77 years old

At the age of 77, Roman rode a scooter for the first time. This was his biggest dream: to master a new type of transport. Before that – always on a bicycle, and now – on a scooter. He tells us that everything is not as simple as it seems: you need to be careful, control your speed, and follow the line.

His whole life was spent in the circus, he remembers how he graduated from the Moscow Variety and Circus School, because there was no such educational institution in Ukraine at that time. And since then – all 50 years of life have passed under the dome of the circus.

First – a gymnast, and then – a new profession of a carpet clown. He says that he was the same person who made everyone laugh and filled the pauses between numbers. He mentions that children are the most demanding audience, because if you can make a child laugh, you can make an adult laugh too.

“I come from a family of hereditary circus artists. My grandfather and father worked in the circus, my father from the age of five, then pauses and adds. — My son was also an acrobat, but he got a back injury through his own fault. Unfortunately, he is no more.”

Recalling the best moments of his life, Roman talks about how he worked as a lifeguard at a boat station. About the stories that happened there. He says that the brightest moments are related to the events when he helped people. And he also mentions circus tours abroad.

Romanov wears a bracelet made of a teapot. At the place where the handle is attached, there is now a boy peeing and the phrase “To pee or not to pee”. Serhiy Zhernov says that he invented this word game to ask the most important question: “To be afraid or not to be afraid.”

Not for sale

Andriy Bogomolov, 60 years old

At the age of 60, Andriy managed to change his profession to architect, artist, painting teacher for children in grades 1-6 and is not going to stop there.

“I remember, I was 46 years old,” says Andriy, “we came to Venice, settled as a group somewhere near Venice and went on excursions every day. It was the end of September, it was drizzling, the weather was completely autumn, gloomy, and the whole group gave me money to buy tickets for the boat. I am on tickets, and everyone is on the boat, they are waiting for me there. And now I’m standing at the ticket office, waiting for the tickets to be given to me, I turn around, and suddenly I see that the boat with the whole group is leaving. They have all the money, and I have all the tickets. And here I stand, watching how the distance between us increases. What shall I do? I immediately rush after them. The ship is moving on the water, and I am running along the embankment, trying to catch up with them, but all the time I do not have time. And then I decide that I will rush across the city and meet them in St. Mark’s Square, right at the end of the route. And now I’m already running through the whole city through small streets, running through small towns, pushing people aside, breaking into some hospital. And the strangest thing: no one stops me, I run past the doctors in the corridors and suddenly find myself on the street again, and in front of me is a square and a monument. It is the same monument that I drew when I was still at the university. And so I ran out, stopped near this monument, I stand and say to myself: “Where are you running? You can’t catch up with them!”

“I remember standing on the square, catching my breath, returning to the station, where I lost everyone, and went on the next boat to follow them. The best impression. As I remember now,” Andriy says and laughs at the entire studio, as if it happened a moment ago.

Andriy is now 60, two years ago he went to work at a private school. He teaches painting, reflects on how gadgets have invaded the lives of children, how their drawings have been simplified and how the need to keep favorite images in the head has disappeared. He allegedly complains, but in fact he doesn’t, he says that thanks to his children, he plunged into the world of computer characters, knows all the popular games and their characters.

“You know,” continues Andriy, answering the question about his dream, “I like to travel a lot.” I need health and money for this. I dream of going somewhere where I can finally work on paintings without being in a hurry. After all, for most of your life, when you travel for tourist purposes, you run all the time through cities, hurrying somewhere to see everything, to take photos of everything. And when you draw, you study the subject by evaluating it. Do you understand? A photo is a way of capturing an object, a drawing is a way of understanding an object. This is what I want: to sit down on the shore without hurrying, get paints and paint. Slow down and enjoy life.”

On Andriyev Bogomolov there is a pendant made of three forks. The image that Sergey Zhernov saw during the creation of the decoration is the icon of the Rublev Trinity: three Angels at the table, in the center – a sacrificial cup, and if the Angels had forks in their hands, they would be part of this decoration.

Suspension “Cross”

UAH 19,000

Oleg Peretyaka, 63 years old

At the age of 63, Oleg is a member of the Counter-Strike GO computer game team for people 55+, an immigrant from Luhansk, a journalist, a teacher.

“I played a computer game for the first time at the age of 59,” Oleg laughs. – Before that, only children disappeared in computer games, I even scolded them, it seemed to me that it was a waste of time – and then I joined a lover of life, found out that there is a Counter-Strike team for people 55+, decided to try it, and here we beat the Swedes, world champions. We are now waiting for revenge. And I am also in a swimming group, we were supposed to swim Lake Orto in Italy back in 2020, but due to the quarantine, everything is being postponed. We train and wait. We expect good results.”

Oleg tells how much his life has changed over the past few years. After he moved with his family from Luhansk in 2014, he managed to stand on all the Maidans, finish his teaching activities, immerse himself in journalistic investigations and find himself again.

“Three years after making the decision that family and health will be my priority, I lost 20 kg, new people, new hobbies and new dreams appeared in my life. I look at photos from the past – I wonder to myself. After all, now I feel healthier, happier and more popular. I even maintain two FB pages – our Counter-Strike team and swimming team. I find the joy of life in this. My path now is an active, energetic, promising life. I like to travel while there is no such financial opportunity, but I really hope that there is still more to come.”

And the brightest event of recent years was the wedding of his sons. “They organized everything themselves, and we were guests there!” Oleg adds.

Oleg has an old alarm clock that you can start and that can ring at any moment. If you look closely, you can see the inscription Awake! and skull outlines in the center of the alarm clock.

Hanger “Wake Up”

UAH 29,000

Natalya Leontieva, 63 years old

Natalya lived in Donetsk and worked in the IT field. At the age of 48, she decided to start her own business and opened a computer store. Business was going well, but within a year Natalya realized that she was tired of computers and wanted to do something to her heart’s content – and opened a store of handmade products. At the age of 56, she moved to Kyiv and started a new life again. She became the curator of the project “Lunch without problems” of the “Zhyttelyub” foundation, later – the project manager and curator of the Kinosad.

“The main thing is not to sit still and whine, but to act. Then life will be interesting and full”

Jewelry set “Weight measures”

UAH 32,000

Tatiana Zarazhevska, 59 years old

Tatyana was born into a military family, moved a lot, changed schools, met new people. And then she married a military man. She worked as the head of a laboratory in a military hospital, tells how she spent her whole life adding a couple or three years to her health. “There’s no need now,” she laughs.

She left her job a few years ago because there were problems in the family and she needed her help. Now I have some time for creativity: “I like to do everything with my own hands, I was engaged in decoupage, felting, I made flowers from cold porcelain,” says Tatyana, “I googled something, I learned something in classes. There is such an atmosphere that it was worth going just for its sake.”

And she managed to be an intern at the Ukrainian startup PetCube. She was impressed by everything there: “There are a lot of impressions,” she says, “it’s a completely different world there.” I have never worked in such offices: people come at a convenient time for them, dogs are right in the offices, everything is very democratic.”

To the question “would you like to be born in another time?”, without thinking, she answers – no: “We are the generation of the last romantics. I love campfire songs, guitar, camping with tents. So many warm memories from that time, – Tatyana pauses, – but no, I don’t miss it. Every time has its positive. I always try to find something good in everything, and at this time there are also many wonderful things.”

She says that when her first grandson was born, she wrote him a poem every month, and then she was helped to publish a book for him when he turned one: “Unfortunately, I only have two sons. “If I could go back, I would have more children,” says Tatiana, “but times were different.”

Tetyana’s artifact is a pendant created by Serhiy Zhernov from a porcelain statuette handed over by her.

“Ballerina” hanger
UAH 19,000

Natalya Khabarova, 67 years old

Natalya tells how she went through courses at Zhyttelyub, where they had to go through a dozen interviews, record a video about herself and post it on Facebook: “It was so difficult for me, there are no words. I worked as an engineer all my life, then I completely changed everything and became a landscape designer. And already after the courses I realized that I need to look for myself further. I was accepted to study at Fiori, where I received a new specialty as a florist, because landscape design is a little different. After that, I started looking for a job, and the interview and self-presentation training helped me a lot, Natalya says, although most of the salons were not immediately accessible to me: the requirements state: “young girls under 35″. I went to my interview calmly, got in front of the director, and was hired. I have been working in an online store since March.”

Natalya says that she communicates with customers, knows English, can discuss orders with foreigners. But the work is difficult: all day on your feet, 10-12 bouquets per day and very little opportunities for creativity, since mostly the bouquet must be created according to a photo: “But sometimes you manage to create something original.”

The main motivation for Natalia to continue working is money. The pension is meager, the children already live their lives separately, we need to look for opportunities for additional income.

Recalling the significant events of her life, she tells about the day when she found out that she would have a daughter. He says that these emotions cannot be forgotten. And he also remembers the difficult period when his son was given a serious diagnosis — leukemia, the fourth stage. Someone advised to turn to a stranger who could help with treatment in the United States: “I remember how I came to someone else’s apartment, said that I will not leave until he meets with me. He then asked one question: “Do you have money for the tickets?” I answered “Yes”, and we flew to the States. The son was saved. I look at these photos now, and I realize that at the time I thought I was unhappy. And now I understand that it was a moment of happiness. The moment of our victory.”

“I still dream of creating a Japanese garden,” says Natalya. – This is a very difficult task. It must be felt, understood, and then it will happen.”

Natalia is wearing a necklace made from a print from the lid of an old Soviet casket. It is two-sided, and it can be considered endlessly, finding more and more new meanings.

Necklace “Eva”

UAH 32,400

Vera Kozyreva, 63 years old

“I didn’t have many bright moments with my parents as a child. Everyone worked, lived in a private house, there was little time left for children. And I wanted more attention, I dreamed of being read fairy tales at night, – says Vera, – so I realized my dream already with my daughter. Every night I read her bedtime stories. Her favorite was about the tin soldier. And every time I asked what she wanted as a present, I heard “ballerina box”. But those were times of terrible scarcity, we just didn’t have those then. Once, to my question “What should I give you?” the daughter answered: “Mom, why do you ask, you won’t give such a gift anyway.”

My heart was breaking, even if you write to the American president, – Vera wipes a tear, apologizes and continues, – and one day, during a break, I went out with a colleague and saw a casket with a ballerina in the window, and it was worth 2 million at the time. And my salary is 4 million. I didn’t hesitate for a second, went into the store, pledged everything I had and asked them not to sell it to anyone. Borrowed money, paid it off, came to work, put the casket on the table, started it and cried. My daughter received it as a New Year’s gift, I still remember how much happiness and joy it brought her. And then these caskets cost 15 hryvnias each.”

In 2017, Vera turned 60, on her birthday she realized that she could not last long: health problems, excess weight. I took care of myself: sports, walking, and then I completely wrote an application for work, packed my things and moved to Kyiv, closer to my daughter.

At first, of course, I was bored, because all my friends and all my past life remained in the Dnipro.

She began recording short videos for her daughter and friends about where she went and what she saw. They say: “Post it on Facebook, you tell an interesting story.”

“That’s how I became a blogger,” Vera laughs, “thanks to these videos, I made new friends, at first virtual, then they became real. And then my daughter sent me to the Hydropark to Zhyttelyuby. I already signed up for all the courses there: English, drawing. I joined the swimming team, I want to swim across a lake in Italy, I am training. Now I have a completely different circle of communication. I recently took part in the Miss Body Positive contest, I see: it is possible to be 65 years old, I applied. And you know what? — Vera smiles, — she won in the category from 40 to 65 years old! When I walked down the catwalk, I was so happy. It’s like a wedding I’ve never had.”

Vera says that she does not leave the feeling that now she is living a completely different life. It’s like in a computer game, when you live for the first time, you get another chance: “I met such people in this life that I would never have met in that life.” I had a different reality there: a job, a dacha, an apartment. After the 60s, I didn’t do manicures or paint. And here I started to live again. I took care of my appearance, I even bought three dresses to go on a boat with my retired friends.”

We talk about dreams, and Vera tells us how she recently visited Paris with retired friends, now she dreams of traveling more, she wants to learn English, and then she will have complete freedom: “If I was afraid before, now the fear is gone. I was afraid to quit my job. It seemed to me that after the release there was a direct road to the cemetery. And now I’m not afraid of anything. I can go anywhere, do anything. There is no more fear. And there are no more obligations. Before – work, family, relatives who had to be taken care of. And now – freedom to live.”

Vera’s artifact is a pendant made from the lid of a ceramic barrel. On the pendant there is a print of a clown’s face, because a clown gave the barrel to Serhiy Zhernov.

Suspension hider

UAH 13,500

Mykola Yurov, 69 years old

An artist and ex-serviceman, he graduated from the Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts at the age of 60. Mykola came to the shooting with his wife. She says that they are together all their lives and everywhere, but she refuses to act out of modesty.

He talks about his military life, and it all fits into one sentence: “I served, earned a pension, didn’t plan to change anything, but the collapse of the Union derailed, the army began to change, worked as a civilian teacher, realized that it was not for me. Went.”

And then – as if the most interesting part begins: “I realized that all my life I was drawn to drawing.” It was a difficult time, there was no money, nothing to lose, I decided to do what I love. I drew an icon, took it to the store. By the time he got home, he received a call that the work had already been bought, – says Mykola, – he was painting, of course, under a different name, because in those days additional earnings were prohibited. And suddenly all this passion began to support my life. Not only financially. I joined the collective of artists, new friends appeared. In that period, I finally understood that teaching activity was tiring for me and I left.”

More later. Mykola and his wife entered the Boychuk Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts: “Then I just turned 60, my wife and I were the youngest there. After finishing, they began to paint the interiors. I even had my own exhibitions at that time.”

He tells how they worked all year as night bakers: they were walking along Lisova, they saw an advertisement for a night baker needed. They gave in, learned everything. The bakery went bankrupt, but Mykola found a job as a night watchman at a school. If he’s lucky, he’ll star in a movie: “I do everything in a row,” he says with a smile. – I’m interested in everything. I agree to everything. My wife and I say YES to everything, we are looking for opportunities ourselves! My school friend actually jumps with a parachute!”.

Every day is a significant event for Mykola. He says that he came to the photo studio, and there is a sea of ​​emotions and an ocean of impressions.

“We dream of going to Australia with my wife, we want to go to Italy. I really want to travel. In short, there is only one dream – to live to the fullest.”

Nicholas’s artifact is a bell that has turned into a fairy’s nest.

Hanger hider “Fairy’s nest”



UAH 13,500

Tatyana Nazarenko, 60 years old

Now, at the age of 60, Tatyana works as an accountant, but during her life she changed many professions and activities.

At the age of 47, Tatiana got behind the wheel for the first time. This is how the circumstances turned out: the husband was sick, the constant help of a close person with tests and hospitals was needed, and the children grew up and moved to other cities.

And at the age of 50, Tatiana entered the institute at the correspondence faculty, majoring in economics. “I realized that I haven’t worked for a long time, my specialty is out of date, I take care of my sick husband all the time, and I have to think about what’s next,” says Tatyana. – I was the youngest in our group. And I had to study more than everyone else, because I had to pass the academic distinction of 100 subjects. Used all this, and even Word with Excel. Sometimes she called her son and almost howled into the phone. But that’s all behind. With a new diploma, she got a job at a wagon factory in Kremenchuk.”

After the death of her husband, Tatyana realized that it was time for drastic changes. She sold her apartment and moved to Kyiv at the age of 55. After all the repairs and moving, I realized that I was left with 100 dollars in my pocket.

“There are no options – I started looking for a job. Wrote a resume, sent it to all possible vacancies. She agreed to everything. But age really got in the way, – recalls Tatyana, – so I sat for 2 months, wrote to everyone in a row, sent out letters and resumes. Looking back on that time, I can say with confidence that the problem was not in age, but in the head. It was necessary to learn to move from the position of a beggar to the position of experience. Clearly explain what I can do and how I can be useful. One evening, after another two rejections, I sat down on Facebook and wrote a post about the fact that you are 55 years old, you are full of strength, the children live their own lives and don’t need you anymore, you are ready to work non-stop, learn new things, put in everything , but nobody needs you. It was the cry of the soul.”

After this post on Facebook, Tatyana received more than 200 offers in a few days. And she managed to find her team: “My boss was 27 years old. The work was difficult, but I was ready for anything. Thanks to the youth for their patience. During the quarantine, I realized that it is very difficult to get to work. Had to trade again for something closer to home. And so, at the age of 59, I started my new job as an accountant in a residential real estate management company right next to the house. I’m learning something new again. I think that I still need to learn SMM, but I will leave it for retirement.”

Talking about his dream, he says that he really wants to learn English. “Working in an IT company and the experience of an independent trip to Prague showed that life is much freer with a language,” Tetyana laughs, exhales, and says, “and I also dream of traveling. Of course, to travel.”

Tatyana’s artifact is a pendant that was born from the lid of an old flask.

Hyder suspension

UAH 13,500

Laura Klimchyk, 62 years old

Laura mainly talks about the life she lives now, about volunteer work, about five grandchildren, about the time she spends in the oncology dispensary with children: “I really like to embroider, and once I knitted 86 pairs of socks. I was thinking about where to put it, my grandchildren took something to school, there they collected parcels for boys in the ATO, and there was something left, so I decided to give it to the oncology clinic, – says Laura, – of course, they did not accept the socks, but thanks to this story, I got to know the fund Tablets and became their volunteer.”

Next week, Laura finishes the hospital clown course, and her first clown debut awaits her. Now she is the person who will take the child to the operation. She says that it is very responsible, and the company is good, and she could not miss such an opportunity: “Before that, I just spent time with children who were in the hospital for months: I modeled, sewed with them, studied Ukrainian and mathematics. And now I will be able to do both.”

Laura fondly talks about every child she met at the cancer center. Sometimes he barely holds back tears. To the question of whether he wants to return to school, he categorically answers “no”. She says that school has been in her life for a long time, now she lacks both strength and patience for it. Talking about her past, she recalls how she combined school with journalism, wrote a dissertation, and gave birth to children along the way. “There was a bit of guilt that mom is busy all the time, but what can you do if I’m so active in life.”

Talking about her dreams, Laura shrugs her shoulders: “I live in the present, but thanks to my new job, I needed certain skills. For example, I would like to play some musical instrument. Imagine how good it would be for a hospital clown to play on something. I want to learn to draw. I could teach this to children. I still feel a big gap in computer games, because I don’t play them myself, so I constantly call my daughter, ask her what the children are playing now, what they are interested in, what music they listen to. These are my dreams now – to study further.”

Lori is wearing an ornament created by Serhiy Zhernov from a fragment of an ancient chandelier from Soviet times. Imprints of crystal stars repeat on the chain, telling a story from the past.

Pendant “Through thorns to the chandelier”

UAH 24,300

Oleksandr Dekhtyar, 62 years old

Oleksandr is now a vocational teacher at the Vvedensk Gymnasium.

“Electronics was foreign to me, even though I worked at the Paton Institute for almost 20 years, so every summer I went to a pioneer camp, organized groups for children there,” Oleksandr says, “and later my hobby turned into a job.”

Oleksandr shares that the most interesting thing started after 50, because literally “projects crawled into his head”.

At first, he came up with a circle for children, wrote the idea on the page, began to offer it to various schools and children’s centers. Despite Oleksandr’s lack of pedagogical education, one school director still agreed to this experiment, so Oleksandr created the first circle at the school Development of technical intelligence. He worked there for three years. He taught the children puzzles, made origami, sawed with a jigsaw.

“And I thought, why only children? There are pensioners, says Oleksandr. — Painted the idea of ​​the project, named it New Page. These were computer courses for pensioners. I started offering it to sanatoriums and holiday homes. They agreed on one point. And they took me. I was about 55 then. It was a bomb. A new page for both the sanatorium and pensioners. My son helped, set up five old computers, and I started teaching people to work. Everyone was just happy, because before they were even afraid to hold a mouse, and the children could not explain it to them properly.”

After this experience, Oleksandr worked for another year at the SBU, then got a job as a storekeeper in a warehouse, worked at a construction site, where he completely mastered the work of an electrician, but all this did not bring as much satisfaction as working with children.

“And so the Vvedensk Gymnasium appeared in my life. And in 2016, I was hired to lead technical circles for children, – Oleksandr pauses and continues, – however, then I was diagnosed with myeloma. She took a year of my life. I learned what hospitals and drips are. But nothing, finished the treatment, and now made a general group for boys and girls. Now we are mastering bead embroidery.”

Oleksandr says that he would like to teach children everything: how to fix faucets, how to create something with your own hands, how to glue wallpaper. He is upset that the boys are not interested, says that it is very difficult to work when two want to, three – not so much, and five – they are stupid: “But now I have a new, fresh idea. The group is only for girls. They kept coming to our work lessons with the boys, and they said that we had a lot of fun. They tried it, they liked it. Now I want to teach them everything: plumbing, electricity, small repairs. I want to call it JAZZ, because “only girls”. Unofficially, of course.”

He says that his dream now is to make the idea come true: “My most vivid impression was when the girls came to the labor lesson and they had genuine genuine interest, excitement in their eyes. I really want to see this light again. This is an incredible return.”

Already at the end of the interview, Oleksandr says that he really likes murals. He finds the addresses of murals in Kyiv and goes there: “I have a collection of 350 murals. This is such a quest, you won’t believe it! Sometimes you search for a long time. And in the photo and in life – these are different images. I post on my Facebook with addresses. And somehow I thought that we don’t raise our heads when we walk around Kyiv, so I started taking pictures of beautiful facades.”

On Oleksandrov there is a pendant that shows the birth of a fairy. To make it, Serhii Zhernov used a Chinese bracelet with bright stones that lined the surface inside the egg.

Suspension “The Birth of Fairy”

UAH 29,000