Tatova Hata

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When you start something new, it’s very easy to focus only on what’s ahead.On what doesn’t exist yet.What still needs to...
11/06/2026

When you start something new, it’s very easy to focus only on what’s ahead.

On what doesn’t exist yet.
What still needs to be done.
What you still need to grow into.

Sometimes, you become so focused on the next step that you forget to look back.

Today, more than 4,000 ornaments from our own production have already found their way into the world.

And honestly – for some people, that may not seem like a big number.

But for us, it represents so much more.

Sleepless nights.
Mistakes that forced us to start over.
Decisions made without guarantees.
The fear of getting it wrong.
And constant learning along the way.

And then – there are people.
The people who believed in us.
Who bought from us.
Came back.
Recommended us.
Supported us when we were still learning to believe that this story could become something bigger.

Tatova Hata is still growing.
We are still learning – every day.
But today, I know one thing for sure:
The biggest stories often start very quietly – with an idea that, at first, only a few people believe in.
Sometimes, that’s enough to begin.

After several seasons of markets, we began to notice something significant: people weren’t just buying souvenirs.Some we...
07/06/2026

After several seasons of markets, we began to notice something significant: people weren’t just buying souvenirs.

Some were looking for a gift that would remind them of home. Others wanted to share a little piece of Ukraine with their friends. Still others chose items that evoked their own memories, traditions or familiar symbols.

And that’s when we started asking ourselves more and more: if we understand so well what people truly value, why not create our own product?

Up until then, we had been working with Ukrainian artisans and manufacturers, helping their work find an audience in the UK. But gradually, we felt we were ready to take the next step – to create items through which we could convey our own vision, our own quality and our own meaning.

The idea of our own production didn’t come about overnight. It grew gradually – through thousands of conversations at fairs, through observing people, through the desire to create something truly our own.

We didn’t just want to create beautiful things. We wanted to create items that people would keep for years, bring out for special occasions and pass on – as little symbols of home, memory and closeness.

It was then that we first began to seriously consider setting up our own production in Ukraine.

And, looking back, I realise: it was no longer about scaling up. It was about taking responsibility for what exactly we want to leave behind.

Gradually, it wasn’t just the scale of what we were doing that began to change. The questions we asked ourselves began t...
03/06/2026

Gradually, it wasn’t just the scale of what we were doing that began to change. The questions we asked ourselves began to change as well.

At first, everything was very simple: Will it work out? Will it succeed? Could we even build something in a country where, until very recently, we didn’t know anyone, didn’t understand the system, and were just starting to speak English?

But after a few seasons of fairs, something changed. We understood people better, saw what things evoked emotions, what people chose for themselves and what as gifts, and what stories lay behind their purchases. With every city, every conversation, and every season, we began to see the bigger picture.

By 2025, Tatova Hata was already represented at fairs in Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Stratford-upon-Avon. We continued to grow, experiment, learn, and refine our processes. But what mattered most was something else: at some point, we stopped asking ourselves "Will this work?"

Instead, a new question emerged: "What exactly are we building?"

And perhaps that was when we first began to think not just about sales or the next season, but about something much bigger – our own product, our own approach, and our own production.

That moment was a turning point. Because growth changes more than just scale. It changes the way we think.

At a certain point, it dawns on you: this isn’t just another attempt anymore.After a difficult, exhausting, but very imp...
30/05/2026

At a certain point, it dawns on you: this isn’t just another attempt anymore.

After a difficult, exhausting, but very important 2023, we entered 2024 with a different mindset. We no longer asked ourselves, "Will it work out?"

Instead, a different question arose: "How do we do this right?"

That year, we had five Christmas markets:
Belfast. Liverpool. Manchester. Nottingham. Sheffield.

And while each market had previously felt like an experiment, we’ve now started to think systematically.

How do we organize logistics between cities?
How do we forecast inventory correctly?
What do people actually choose?
Which products evoke emotion, and which are just pretty things?

We continued to work on our own – standing behind the counters, listening to people’s stories, observing, asking questions.

Because we realized one important thing:
you can’t build a business on assumptions.

It’s built on understanding people.

And, perhaps, that was when we first stopped feeling like people who were "just trying something out".

We began to feel a sense of responsibility for what we were building.

After the first market in Nottingham, it became clear that this was no longer just a one-off success. People were coming...
20/05/2026

After the first market in Nottingham, it became clear that this was no longer just a one-off success. People were coming back. They were telling their friends about us. They were looking for things that helped them stay connected to home, even far from Ukraine.

In the summer, we took part in a fair in Tarasivka – a Ukrainian village in the UK. And there, we felt particularly keenly just how strong people’s connection to their culture can be.

By autumn, things had started moving much faster. Belfast. Leeds. Manchester. Nottingham. Sheffield. We hired our first staff, rented lorries to transport goods, learnt to plan logistics between cities, and spent nights repacking products to get everything ready for the next fair.

But most importantly, we continued to work at the fairs ourselves at the weekends. Because we wanted to understand people, see what they reacted to, and feel what really mattered to them.

At the same time, we were learning English, trying to figure out how accounting works in the UK, how processes are structured, how the business environment operates, and how to scale something that, until very recently, had existed only as an idea. It was then that we truly felt the difference between an idea and a business for the first time. An idea inspires. But a business is the ability to keep moving forward even when you’re tired, don’t know something, and are learning everything at the same time.

Looking back, I realise: during that period, we weren’t just building Tatova Hata. We were simultaneously building a new life for ourselves – step by step, in a country that had been a complete stranger to us until very recently.

In November 2022, we took part in a Christmas market in Nottingham as Tatova Hata for the first time – the city where we...
17/05/2026

In November 2022, we took part in a Christmas market in Nottingham as Tatova Hata for the first time – the city where we were living at the time after moving to the UK.

At that point, we didn’t yet have a clear idea of what this might develop into. We just had an idea and a gut feeling that it was important for people to have things around them that created a connection to home, culture and their own memories.

We applied to take part in the fair – and our application was accepted.

What followed was what probably marked the true beginning of Tatova Hata: searching for manufacturers in Ukraine, the first orders, dozens of conversations, logistics, and the anxiety of wondering whether anyone would actually want these things.

For two months, my husband and I worked at the fair every day. And it was there that I first saw how differently people react to such things – yet how similar the emotions themselves are.

For some, it was a warm reminder of home.
For others, a way to feel a connection to their roots.
And for others still, a first encounter with Ukrainian culture through handmade crafts and traditional skills.

It was then that it became clear that Tatova Hata could be more than just a small family project; it could be something much bigger.

When you’re far from home, your connection to it rarely hinges on anything grand. More often, it rests on simple things ...
10/05/2026

When you’re far from home, your connection to it rarely hinges on anything grand. More often, it rests on simple things you can hold in your hands. On objects that act as memory triggers and need no explanation.

This isn’t about décor or souvenirs as such. It’s about items that serve a different purpose – they restore a person’s connection to their identity, culture and heritage.

I’ve seen how this works for different people in different countries: when you’re physically far away, it’s often material things that become a point of reference. A small but steady way to recapture that sense of "belonging".

From this, it becomes clear that there is not only an emotional demand, but also a market demand. People don’t just buy things; they seek out meaningful objects that can be passed on, given as gifts, or taken with them as a piece of history.

Then the product begins to look different:
🔸not as a mere item, but as a carrier of meaning;
🔸not as a range of goods, but as a system of symbols that can be developed across different contexts and markets.

It is around this that the logic of Tatova Hata is gradually taking shape as a project at the intersection of culture, memory and product design, with the potential to enter international markets: souvenir chains, Christmas markets, museums, corporate gifts and so on.

There are things you only truly come to appreciate with time.Back in the 80s, my father would come home from work – and ...
29/04/2026

There are things you only truly come to appreciate with time.

Back in the 80s, my father would come home from work – and our house would come alive. From ordinary wood, he would create things that seemed almost magical to me at the time: carved boxes, plates, candlesticks.

We were all part of the process – Mum, me, my younger sister. Some of us helped, some just watched, but it was a time when the house was filled with meaning. Not because of the objects themselves, but because of how they were made. Back then, I didn’t think of it as anything special. It was simply part of my life.

Over the years, I came to realise: it wasn’t just about the items themselves, but about the approach, the attention to detail, the respect for the material. The fact that every item is made by hand and has its own character.

A few years ago, my father passed away.
And it was probably then that I realised even more deeply just how much these memories had influenced me and what I do today.

Tatova Hata has grown in many ways from this experience. Not as an attempt to ‘replicate’ it, but as a desire to preserve the approach – to create things that have substance, not just form.

Because, ultimately, people can tell the difference.

When you find yourself far from home against your will, many things сhange. But what changes most profoundly is the very...
26/04/2026

When you find yourself far from home against your will, many things сhange. But what changes most profoundly is the very sense of what "home" means.

A few years ago, I moved to the UK, trying to protect my family from the war that, one morning, turned our normal lives upside down. And it was here, in this new reality, that I truly felt for the first time just how much home means to us. It is no longer just a place – it is a collection of sensations, smells, details and symbols that create an inner sense of stability and peace.
I began to catch myself looking around for something familiar – something that would at least partially bring me back to Ukraine. To those moments where there is peace, warmth, understanding and acceptance.

That was when the first idea for Tatova Hata emerged – not as a business in the traditional sense, but as a way to maintain a connection with what holds true value for me: home, culture and my own identity.

Today, it is more than just an idea. But for me, it is important that this very feeling always remains at its core. Because sometimes one thing can do more than it seems – it can give a person back a piece of home. And today, this feeling is gradually turning into real things that are finding their people in different countries.

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Address

Old Market Square
Nottingham
NG12LN

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+447462774521

Website

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