Ukraine: Motanka Faceless Doll Team Craft Workshop

Motanka Faceless Doll Team Craft Workshop, Ukraine

Context

In many communities in Ukraine and in the diaspora, a centuries‑old craft has quietly become a modern bond‑builder: the making of the faceless, hand‑wound lyalka‑motanka. Unlike painting or sewing, lyalka‑motanka uses no needles or knives; fabric strips are wrapped and knotted into a human form whose cross‑threaded “face” is a folk protective motif rather than a religious crucifix and symbolizes balance and protection. The practice is tactile, meditative, and widely recognized in Ukraine, and related faceless rag‑doll traditions exist in neighboring Eastern European cultures. Museums and cultural centers from Kyiv to Chicago now teach it as living heritage rather than relic, and workshops often note regional styles and meanings while offering an accessible way to hold on to identity during ongoing wartime displacement. *

Ukrainian teams have adapted this cultural craft into routine, low‑tech team rituals—motanka “circles” that fit a 60–90 minute window and work as well in a conference room as in a shelter or hybrid office—while the tradition itself moved from a domestic talisman through Soviet folklorization and suppression to post‑1991 revival and post‑2014/2022 resilience and charity craft. The appeal is practical: it is safe, secular, portable, and uses inexpensive offcuts of cloth. Locally, lyalka‑motanka is regarded as an obereg (guardian) tied to care and balance, and from an etic, clinical lens, arts‑based activities can support short‑term stress reduction and mood improvement. Group art‑making is associated with short‑term reductions in stress biomarkers such as cortisol and with eased loneliness, and clay and handcraft sessions show benefits in randomized and controlled studies, with effect sizes that vary. For teams under chronic strain, these small circles deliver a collective exhale. * * *

Meet the Company/Cultural Tradition

Save Ukraine, a Kyiv‑based NGO founded in 2014, runs a network of Resilience Centers that blend social services and psychosocial support for staff and volunteers working with displaced families and returned children. In March 2024, one center hosted a Motanka masterclass for its teams, explicitly framing the craft as art‑therapy: a way to relax, re‑center, and “connect with our cultural traditions” so colleagues could “assist children and families in need” with renewed strength. The organization’s update highlights how the session helped teams regulate emotions and restore energy together. * *

Corporate Ukraine has picked up the thread. According to the Kyiv‑based art studio Likhtaryk, motanka stations have been included at some company events where employees knot their own talisman and leave with a handmade reminder of shared effort. While these are often part of broader programs, the studio reports that motanka is often chosen as a recognizable Ukrainian folk craft element because it uses simple materials and requires no special talent. *

Even tech employers weave in craft‑based well‑being. SoftServe, one of Ukraine’s largest IT companies, ran a hands‑on clay workshop in its Poltava coworking space in May 2025, inviting associates to “focus on process, calm thoughts, and reduce stress.” The session sits within a well‑being ecosystem that delivered 260+ events for 5,700+ participants in 2024, evidence that creative, tactile rituals have wide uptake alongside talks and fitness. * *

The Ritual

Minute	What happens	Why it matters
0–5	Gather in a circle; facilitator briefly introduces Motanka (no needles; winding cloth; faceless cross) and invites each person to set a private intention for their doll.	Psychological “arrival” and shared focus; anchors the session in heritage without religion. *
5–15	Materials hand‑out; demo of the basic wrap and knot; safety note (no cutting tools).	Low barrier to entry; equalizes skills; safe by design.
15–60	Quiet making: wrapping head and torso, crossing threads, adding simple garments or beads from scrap. Colleagues can pair up to help hold tension while winding.	Repetitive, tactile action induces calm; micro‑collaboration builds trust. Art‑making sessions are shown to reduce cortisol and anxiety. *
60–75	Optional “dedication tag”: write a few words about a team value or person the doll honors; place dolls together for a group photo.	Gentle meaning‑making without turning into a meeting; artifacts reinforce shared identity.
75–90	“Guardians’ shelf” moment: a few dolls stay in a common spot; the rest go with makers. Quick close and thanks.	Visible, nonverbal reminder of belonging; clear ending keeps energy high.

Notes: For hybrid teams, post small material kits and offer multiple time slots across time zones that avoid peak caregiving windows, ensure parity for remote and night‑shift staff, and use an overhead rig with live captions and a camera‑optional option. For teams with trauma exposure, frame the activity as quiet craft and make participation and sharing strictly optional and brief, with observe‑only and alternate simple craft choices available without explanation. *

Why It Works

Motanka circles combine cultural resonance with the psychophysiology of craft by linking inputs (a quiet circle, tactile winding, a shared symbol) to ritual elements (repetition, optional pairing help, brief dedication, and artifact display), which in turn engage mechanisms (attentional absorption/flow, micro‑coordination, social identity cues, and norm formation) that produce proximal outcomes (lower perceived stress, calmer affect, perceived cohesion) and hypothesized distal outcomes (belonging/trust signals and smoother coordination) that should be measured rather than assumed. The hand‑winding and knotting are rhythmic and absorbing, nudging participants into flow. Laboratory studies report short‑term reductions in salivary cortisol during 45 minutes of visual art‑making in adults, and randomized trials of clay and handcraft group sessions show reductions in depression, loneliness, and hopelessness, though effects vary by population and design. Participants often report feeling calmer and more open once arousal decreases, but any effects on team psychological safety or trust should be treated as hypotheses until measured in your context. * * * *

Culturally, a faceless guardian made without piercing or cutting is widely recognized in Ukraine and is symbolic without being religious, and related forms exist in neighboring regions. That makes it a potent, inclusive ritual for colleagues of different beliefs. The object is compact, office‑friendly, and durable; a “guardians’ shelf” of finished dolls slowly becomes visual lore that outlasts slide decks and off‑sites. *

Outcomes & Impact

At Save Ukraine, the Motanka workshop was positioned as staff care as much as tradition: a way for center teams to relax, balance emotions, and “activate their own resources” before returning to frontline work with children and families, a direct link between craft time and service quality. This coupling of culture and coping is critical in prolonged crisis. *

In corporate settings, adoption is steady rather than splashy. Creative vendors cite Motanka corners at employer events for Visa, Sanofi, Abbott, and DataRobot, an indicator that companies choose this practice when they want a recognizably Ukrainian, non‑performative activity that creates artifacts people keep. The ritual scales down to 8–12 people for depth or up to large “flow” stations for all‑hands days. *

Broader engagement data reinforce the demand for craft‑based well‑being in Ukraine’s tech sector: SoftServe reports 260+ well‑being events for 5,700+ participants in 2024, and its in‑office clay sessions explicitly target calm, focus, and stress reduction, adjacent benefits to Motanka’s. Use a simple measurement plan to test value: send 24–48‑hour post‑session pulse surveys with one to three items on calm or stress, belonging or identification, and a short psychological safety scale, and track behavioral proxies such as attendance or opt‑out rate, multi‑speaker stand‑ups, and cross‑team Slack replies with anonymous, team‑level aggregation. Link the mechanism to metrics in a one‑line chain, for example, a Motanka circle (hands‑on, quiet, shared artifact) leads to calmer affect and a sense of belonging, which should translate into smoother handoffs and a target of a 15% reduction in handoff defects per sprint. * * *

Lessons for Global Team Leaders

Principle	Why it matters	How to translate
Cultural specificity, not spectacle	Authentic symbols carry pride without performance pressure	Choose a local craft that is secular, safe, and simple (e.g., paper‑cut vytynanka; no blades for office use)
Hands first, voices optional	Craft regulates before conversation	Keep sharing brief and opt‑in; let the work do the bonding
Make it visible	Artifacts sustain memory	Create a “guardians’ shelf” or wall; photograph and archive each circle
Safety by design	No sharp tools; accessible to all	Use pre‑cut strips; ban needles/knives; mind fragrance sensitivities if using herbs
Rhythm over rarity	Repetition beats off‑sites	Schedule monthly or quarterly circles; 60–90 minutes is enough

Implementation Playbook

Select a facilitator who can demonstrate the basic wrap and explain the secular symbolism (no need for a professional therapist), and make clear that participation is voluntary with a socially safe opt‑out and an equivalent alternative such as a quiet focus hour or a short stretch walk, and ensure managers do not track individual opt‑outs. Name accountable roles (owner, facilitator, communications, and data), contract and fairly pay a Ukrainian master craftsperson or diaspora partner when possible, credit them in communications, prefer Ukrainian‑made materials, and state that this is a well‑being activity rather than a clinical intervention with information about EAP or local mental health resources. When used outside Ukraine, avoid logo‑branding or selling the dolls, avoid sacred, wedding, or fertility variants without permission, and consider a nominal donation to a Ukrainian cultural organization.
Prepare kits: 3–4 fabric strips (cotton/linen), thread in two colors for the cross, and a few beads or cord scraps, and add accommodations such as larger strips, pre‑formed cores, adaptive grips, high‑contrast mats, and scent‑free and no‑beads options; avoid needles or scissors and offer a plain figure or alternate simple craft for anyone uncomfortable with national symbols.
Book a 60–90‑minute slot and a quiet space; arrange seats in a circle with a central materials table, and budget the loaded time cost per participant along with basic kit and facilitator/vendor fees.
Open with a two‑minute context that credits lyalka‑motanka’s Ukrainian origins in plain, secular language, explains that participation is voluntary with an equivalent alternative, and points people to a one‑page overview sent in advance that covers time, norms, opt‑out, and data use and retention, and add that the thread cross on the face is a folk protective motif rather than a religious crucifix.
Demonstrate the head wrap and cross, then set a timer for 45 minutes of quiet making with ambient instrumental music, provide visual step cards in high contrast, offer seated or one‑hand options and buddy winding, and ensure captions and an overhead camera for remote participants with cameras optional.
Make dedication tags and photos strictly opt‑in, avoid names or personal details on tags, exclude faces by default, and state the purpose and a 90‑day media retention window stored in an approved system after Legal/HR review. Allow anonymous shelf placement and invite only volunteers to place a few dolls on a visible shelf.
Close with thanks and a one‑line check‑out prompt (“One word you’re leaving with”).
For hybrid teams, ship kits to remote members and stream an overhead camera demo with captions, ensure parity for remote and night‑shift staff, and record a 5‑minute recap for those who couldn’t attend.
Pilot with two to four teams for six to eight weeks with two to three sessions, set leading targets of at least 70% opt‑in and a +0.3 gain on a short psychological safety scale and a lagging target of a 15% reduction in handoff defects, and stop or redesign if opt‑in falls below 40% or safety dips.

Common Pitfalls

Treating Motanka as décor rather than practice: skip the lecture; prioritize hands‑on time.
Drifting into religious framing: keep language secular and inclusive.
Overscripting sharing: long speeches turn a craft circle into a meeting.
Using sharp tools: needles/scissors undermine the “winding” ethos and raise safety concerns.

Reflection & Call to Action

Rituals stick when they feel like home. In Ukraine, colleagues winding simple dolls out of scrap cloth aren’t performing culture for the camera; they are practicing it together. The result is a room that sounds different: quieter hands, slower breathing, and the small pride of a finished guardian on a shelf.

Choose a craft that means something where your team lives, and when adopting lyalka‑motanka outside Ukraine, credit its Ukrainian origin, partner with Ukrainian facilitators or diaspora organizations, and share benefits through fair fees or donations. Keep it safe, simple, and regular. Let your people make something with their hands, and watch how quickly the room remembers it is a team.