{"id":28154,"date":"2026-04-21T03:44:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westernbid.com\/%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%b7-%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%b3%d0%be%d1%80%d1%96%d1%97\/solodovnik-brand-allwoodenbiz\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T15:26:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T15:26:47","slug":"solodovnik-brand-allwoodenbiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernbid.com\/en\/case-studies\/solodovnik-brand-allwoodenbiz\/","title":{"rendered":"Oksana and Andriy Solodovnyk: The story of the Allwoodenbiz brand"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Oksana and Andriy Solodovnyk are the owners of the Allwoodenbiz brand, which specializes in creating personalized wooden children’s products.<\/strong> Their toys are high-quality, eco-friendly, safe, and they also develop creativity, engaging 100% of a child’s imagination. According to customers, it’s hard to imagine a better gift to distract children from phones and other devices.<\/p>\n\n

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How it all began<\/h2>\n\n

Before the married couple Solodovnyk launched the Allwoodenbiz<\/strong> brand seven years ago, Andriy had already worked two jobs \u2014 he needed to support a young family, as he married early at the age of 19. His first job involved woodworking for doors, the second \u2014 carving iconostasis. Professionally, Andriy is a carver, a maker of artistic wood products, so he tried to find a position that would help him realize his Potential. But it so happened that he had to leave both jobs. They paid little, even though the work required significant effort.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cI saw that my husband’s talent was very undervalued,\u201d recalls Oksana. \u201cHe could turn terribly damaged, beaten, broken doors into new, even better ones than before. Restored to sellable condition, the doors sold well, but it did not affect his pay \u2014 at the factory where Andriy worked, he received a minimum wage. Such injustice tormented me. I tried to convey my opinion to him, to make him value himself a bit more.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

Listening to his wife, Andriy took up carving. Worked for himself. Later, he bought a used German jigsaw for $100 \u2014 this was his first investment on the way to his dream of realization and independence. With this jigsaw, on the ninth floor of a one-room apartment, he carved alphabets and small wooden figures for their son.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cYou could say our son became my inspiration,\u201d smiles Andriy. \u201cInstead of buying low-quality plastic toys, I wanted to create something with my own hands for him. That\u2019s how the first, second, and third alphabets appeared. It turned out pretty well, so we decided to develop this theme further. Moreover, the demand for wooden children’s toys in Ukraine was high.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

The young married couple consulted with their family and, upon receiving permission, moved to the outskirts of Ternopil, to Andriy\u2019s grandparents. There, they simultaneously took care of the old house and worked a little in a workshop they converted from an old shed.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cFor a long time, our relatives, especially the older generation, didn\u2019t understand how Oksana earned money sitting at the computer,\u201d describes Andriy\u2019s difficulties. \u201cIt seemed like she wasn\u2019t doing anything because I was the one coming home covered in sawdust. They told us, \u2018Go get a normal stable job, some government enterprise.\u2019 It took about a year and a half to convince relatives that my products sell because of Oksana, as she handles marketing and sales.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

Three years have passed, two of which the wooden toys successfully sold in the Ukrainian market.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cAnother reason we started making toys is that I am an English teacher by profession,\u201d adds Oksana. \u201cI taught and worked as a defectologist with children with intellectual disabilities: Down syndrome and autism. For lessons, I needed educational toys: alphabets, numbers, pyramids, various figures, houses, and furniture for the houses. I thought these things would interest children. When I was a child myself, I dreamed of a similar house with tiny furniture. Andriy exceeded all my expectations. His work shocked me. I had never seen such high-quality craftsmanship and such wonderful design execution.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

The first house was purchased by friends from Kyiv. They also appreciated the beauty and skill with which the toy was made. Gradually, orders began arriving from all over Ukraine. This motivated them to create various product variations to expand their range.<\/p>\n\n

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Shop on Etsy<\/h2>\n\n

It didn\u2019t take long before one of the houses, through pastors and the church, ended up in America.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cWe, Ukrainian producers, were targeted specifically to make orders in our store. That\u2019s when we realized that there is a huge demand for the items we produce across the ocean. In fact, this interest has a historical background. It\u2019s that 30-40 years ago, making toy houses was very popular in America. Parents created them from various improvisational materials for their children. Now these children have grown up, become parents themselves, and want similar toys for their own children.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

It was 2016. There were no courses on how to work correctly on the Etsy marketplace. Initially, Oksana and Andriy tried to figure it out themselves, but still lacked enough knowledge for productive work. That was when they met Oleksandr Radiche<\/strong>, an e-commerce expert and practicing seller who taught Ukrainian entrepreneurs how to run their business on Etsy, eBay, and Amazon.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cAfter taking the course, our store started operating globally. We tripled our sales. Relatives, several artisans, and designers joined us. Before the war, we had a staff of ten people. Now some serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, others have dispersed. We had to optimize production. Planning and CNC machine tools greatly helped accelerate work. Now three good workers can perform the work that ten used to do.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine that once the production was cramped into a four by four meter shed. Later, one wall of the shed was moved back to increase the working space, and repairs were made inside. After a year, the couple decided to rent a large space of one hundred square meters at a factory, but it was very cold and lacked any comfortable working conditions.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cWe paid crazy amounts for rent and electricity, even when we didn\u2019t use the lights. It couldn\u2019t go on like that, so we started looking for other options.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

The search led to Kickstarter<\/strong>. The entrepreneurs decided to launch their project on the platform to raise funds for creating their own workshop. Unfortunately, the idea was not successful. They raised money for the construction themselves. However, Oksana and Andriy still remained winners \u2014 thanks to Kickstarter, many people learned about the Allwoodenbiz<\/strong> brand. They visited the Etsy store page and became regular customers.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cIn my opinion, to start your own business, you need to have a dream and a purpose<\/strong>,\u201d believes Andriy. \u201cWithout a dream, everything will lack meaning. My wife and I, for example, wanted to be free, not depend on anyone\u2019s opinion, and do something nice for people using the talent God gave us. The feedback we get from grateful customers shows us we are on the right path. So, all our efforts weren\u2019t in vain.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n
\n \u201cFrom my side, I can add that I, as a wife, really wanted my husband to realize himself. To be satisfied with the work he does. To be appreciated for his unique artistic vision. I am upset that talented people in Ukraine are undervalued, capable of creating extraordinary things.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

Besides dreaming and having a goal, Oksana and Andriy also recommend having a business plan<\/strong>. It helps to better understand what exactly you want and how to step-by-step achieve your goals.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cDrifting along, you can\u2019t develop. If you don\u2019t develop, you start to degrade,\u201d believes Andriy. \u201cIn the second year of our work, I deliberately took a business planning course. At the end of the course, we had to write a business plan for our business idea. We thought long and hard about everything. Our business plan was designed for three years, but we actually executed it within a year.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n
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After February 24<\/h2>\n\n

Like many Ukrainians, waking up on the morning of February 24, Oksana and Andriy did not want to believe that a full-scale invasion from Russia had begun.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cWe knew that the war would start sooner or later because everything was heading towards that. But when it happened, we didn\u2019t know what to do, where to go.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

When the initial shock passed, the couple immediately began offering their help to everyone in need.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cI have many friends in Kyiv and all over Ukraine,\u201d notes Oksana. \u201cI was texting them on Facebook, everywhere I had some chats, groups, communities, telling them \u2018People, come to me. I will take you all in.\u2019\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

The first month passed with phone communication. Oksana answered calls, organized the relocation of people from Kyiv, helped them leave for abroad, especially to Poland. The private house where they lived was transformed into a hostel. All rooms were occupied by displaced persons staying for one or two nights, sometimes a whole week.<\/p>\n\n

No one was thinking about work then. Regular clients and even competitors, who, following Allwoodenbiz<\/em>, created similar products, offered to move to a safer place, but the couple refused. Unlike relatives and friends, they stayed in Ukraine the entire time.<\/p>\n\n

With the start of hostilities, the workshop immediately lost three leading workers. One craftsman went to serve and has been in the Armed Forces for a year. The designer and customer relations manager became volunteers from their side.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cIt was only me, Andriy, and two novice guys who came to us and said they were ready to start working the next day,\u201d recounts Oksana. \u201cThey very quickly got involved in the work and, within a few weeks, mastered all the high-precision tasks, as they were so motivated by the war. Besides, now we have two more displaced persons working with us.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

Due to the war, the manufacturing scheme also changed. Now the brand works less with custom orders that needed to be made from scratch, and more with designs that have already been popular with clients. Changes also affected the delivery of large items \u2014 big houses and playgrounds are shipped to Poland, and from there, via FedEx<\/strong>, sent to customer addresses.<\/p>\n\n

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Stories that fill life with meaning<\/h2>\n\n

The driving force for change and experiments for Oksana and Andriy has always been their clients.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cPeople came to us with their ideas and designs, asked us to make houses exactly as they imagined,\u201d smiles Oksana. \u201cWe often invested ourselves in such projects without knowing what would come out of them or if these products would sell further. It\u2019s very hard to take on individual designs. They require a lot of human resources and emotions. But it didn\u2019t stop us. We took such orders, argued over them, but still saw them through. Customers always liked the result.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\n\n

Several client designs went viral and immediately became quite popular. However, there was an instance when one house remained unsold for several years. And when they decided to withdraw it from sale, a boom happened \u2014 the product suddenly became a bestseller, selling 30-50 pieces per year.<\/p>\n\n

\n \u201cThere was a funny story with a product we shipped in two different parcels. One was sent via Ukrposhta on a ship across the Pacific Ocean, and the other was headed to the customer across the Atlantic. The parcels took a very long time. About three to four months somewhere. The customer already demanded a refund. He gave us a deadline. And on the very day we were supposed to return $1000, the second parcel finally reached its recipient. That\u2019s a funny story.\u201d\n <\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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