Prime Highlights
- Ivan Shostak, a Ukrainian veteran who lost his sight during the battle of Bakhmut in 2023, has built a pottery business and now mentors other blind veterans through the Pottery in the Dark project in Vinnytsia.
- Six of the 11 veterans who completed pottery training at the Podillia rehabilitation centre already earn an income from the craft, with the programme supported by Sweden and the UN Development Programme.
Key Facts
- Shostak has produced more than 1,000 pottery pieces since losing his sight, selling work through Instagram with a three-person team and operating from a workshop his brother set up for him.
- Fellow veteran Viacheslav Sadovskyi, 47, joined the programme after a drone explosion in 2024 caused facial injuries requiring five surgeries, and now trains under Shostak at the rehabilitation centre.
Background
Ivan Shostak lost his sight in battle. He has since made more than 1,000 pieces of pottery, seen none of them, and built a business that now helps other blind veterans find their footing after war.
Shostak, 37, served in Ukraine’s military and previously fought in eastern Ukraine after conflict broke out in 2014. He rejoined during Russia’s full-scale invasion, delaying enlistment to be present for his second son’s birth.
In March 2023, while fighting in the battle of Bakhmut, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded above his head. The blast destroyed his eyes, left him with a concussion, a traumatic brain injury and displaced vertebrae in the neck.
The months that followed were brutal. His wife left. He spent half a year bedridden. A fellow soldier eventually took him to a local rehabilitation centre, where within a month staff taught him to use a phone, a cane and manage daily life. A visit to a pottery workshop changed things further.
He made his first plate and felt, for the first time since his injury, that he could still create something. He began attending classes regularly, started selling his work, and became an instructor through the Pottery in the Dark project, supported by Sweden and the UN Development Programme in Vinnytsia, central Ukraine. He then launched his own business, operating with three team members and selling mostly through Instagram.
At the Podillia rehabilitation centre, Shostak now works alongside fellow veteran Viacheslav Sadovskyi, 47, who lost partial vision after a drone explosion in 2024 left him requiring five surgeries. Shostak guides his hands on the wheel, teaching through touch.
Centre director Roman Shtohryn said six of the 11 participants who completed the pottery training already earn income from the craft, a result the programme had set out to achieve from the beginning. He added that having veterans teach veterans brings a level of understanding no outside instructor can replicate, and that shared experience remains the foundation of everything the project stands on.
