About Blagowood

From a Personal Path to a Woodworking Studio

Blagowood is a small Ukrainian workshop creating wooden statues and wall sculptures inspired by pagan traditions, mythology, folklore, ancient religions, history, and spiritual practice.

The project began in 2014, when artist Mykhailo Melnychuk started carving figures for his own spiritual path, his connection with his ancestors, and his interest in Slavic pagan tradition. At first, it was not a business. It was a personal search, a way to give physical form to the gods, spirits, and figures that were important to him.

Over time, this personal work grew into something larger. People from different countries and traditions began asking Mykhailo to create deities and sacred figures connected not only with Slavic paganism, but also with Norse, Celtic, Greek, Wiccan, and many other ancient paths.

The project was first known as BlagoVyd, meaning “Blessed Appearance” — a name connected with Mykhailo’s artistic identity and his understanding of the work. Later, it became Blagowood, or “Blessed Wood,” reflecting both the material we work with and the meaning behind each piece. The first official Blagowood shop opened in 2015.

Created Together

As Blagowood developed, Mykhailo’s wife and partner, Olha, joined him in shaping the workshop’s creative direction. She has contributed her own designs, ideas, and artistic vision, working alongside Mykhailo throughout the growth of the project.

Mykhailo’s foundation is hand carving. This is where his experience began, and it remains at the heart of the workshop. Each design starts as original artistic work created by a person who has spent more than a decade studying, carving, and interpreting deities from different pagan and ancient traditions.

To make these designs available to more people around the world, we gradually moved from purely hand-carved one-of-a-kind pieces to a small workshop production process. Today, we use CNC equipment to reproduce Mykhailo’s original designs with consistent detail and quality. After that, every piece is still drilled, cleaned, colored, checked, and finished by hand.

This allows us to keep the fine details of the original design close to what customers see in the photos, while still giving each piece its own character through the natural grain, color, texture, and weight of the wood. We work mainly with oak and ash, and no two pieces of wood are exactly the same.

Our goal is simple: to make meaningful wooden statues that carry the hand and eye of the artist, while remaining accessible to a wider circle of practitioners, collectors, and people who feel connected to these traditions.

Deities from Many Pagan and Ancient Traditions

Blagowood began with Slavic pagan figures, but over more than ten years of work, Mykhailo’s experience has grown far beyond one tradition. Through creating statues for people from many different spiritual paths, he has developed a deep practical knowledge of how deities from various cultures are represented.

We specialize in creating artistic images of gods, goddesses, spirits, legendary figures, and sacred symbols from different pagan and ancient traditions. For us, the most important part of this work is attention to the details that identify each deity: their attributes, symbols, posture, clothing, tools, animals, weapons, gestures, and other elements connected with their stories and meaning.

We do not treat these figures as generic fantasy images. Each design is created with care for the recognizable character of the deity it represents. We want practitioners to look at our work and find many meaningful details that connect with the history, nature, and qualities of that god or goddess.

Our pieces are chosen for personal spiritual practice, altars and shrines, devotional spaces, collections, libraries, studios, and meaningful home displays. Whether a person follows a Slavic, Norse, Celtic, Greek, Wiccan, or another pagan path, we try to create work that feels respectful, detailed, and close to the spirit of the tradition.

Made in Ukraine, Sent Around the World

Blagowood has continued to work and create in Ukraine throughout the years of war. Many things in daily life have changed, but our workshop remains active, and we continue making and sending our work to customers internationally.

Through more than 20,000 Etsy sales, Blagowood pieces have reached every inhabited continent, including Svalbard, Norway. Antarctica remains the only continent to which we have not shipped.

Every order helps our small workshop continue creating original wooden art in Ukraine. Thank you for supporting Blagowood and the people behind it.

Follow Our Work

Instagram: @woodcarvingmaster
Founder: Mykhailo and Olha Melnychuk

Blagowood is operated by MYDWAY LLC, a company registered in Delaware, United States. Our workshop and production remain based in Ukraine.

Thank you for supporting handmade art and independent craftsmanship.