Freedom Interiors Expands Services, Donates Proceeds

May 9, 2022

Since the start of Freedom Interiors, we have prided ourselves on our expertise in the furniture industry. From schools to government and corporate, we have gained clients through our innovative design and technology.

In 2020, Freedom Interiors expanded on our services, adding large print wall coverings and biophilic walls to the list. The installation of the first biophilic wall was done in Waystar’s Overland Park office in multiple locations. The first location was down a hallway, where 15 slim planter boxes were filled with reindeer moss at varying heights. The second was a large reception area sign that touted the Waystar logo. Both were manufactured by The Fat Plant Society.

“We actually started gathering a lot of interior design inspiration from that project and are doing similar designs for other projects that we are working on,” interior design Alicia Pellen said.

Since the first installation, Freedom Interiors adopted a similar design with our client FavTrip, a local Kansas City convenience store. Owner, Babir Sultan, has thousands of social media followers linked to the store and wanted to give his customers more of a reason to post while visiting.

Freedom provided six moss samples ranging from plastic to preserved reindeer moss from multiple vendors for Sultan to choose from. Sultan wanted the wall to look real and appear to have living moss, so the final selection was a medium grade reindeer moss from YesMoss, an Etsy shop, out of Ukraine.

Galyna, the owner YesMoss, is the sole creator of the decor pieces. Not only does she create biophilic walls by hand, manually picking each specific piece and gluing them to backing, but also creates hanging moss pieces and wall art in planter boxes and wreaths.

The moss ranges in color and goes beyond the typical green color one may think of. She creates rainbow moss walls, through naturally occurring moss colors or bleaching and dying the samples.

In late February, Freedom Interiors placed their order with YesMoss, just three days before Russia invaded Ukraine. So, what was next? After a lengthy planning and selection process, the decision had been made, but would the order reach Galyna and YesMoss? Would Galyna be able to create and complete the order? If so, would it be able to ship out of Ukraine?

The communication went silent momentarily. And then.. a package arrived at 4000 Washington Street. The moss.

Project Lead, Garold Sokolenko, reached out to YesMoss’s Etsy account, awaiting a response. At that time, Galyna, her daughter and dog, were living out of their van, sleeping on cots in a different place each night, in an attempt to flee Ukraine. Freedom Interiors wanted to help, but how? That’s when Sokolenko decided to donate the proceeds from the project to Galyna and YesMoss.

Banks in Ukraine had been shut down for weeks by this point, so the only transaction option was through Etsy. Galyna created a digital download touting a photograph of moss with a transparent Ukrainian flag atop. Freedom ‘purchased’ 10 of these downloads, sending Galyna over $800, in hopes to help in some way.

Since the invasion, she has relocated to Germany with family and still creating moss art for her Etsy shop.

If you would like to contribute to YesMoss and Galyna, you may purchase a digital download from the Etsy shop here.