Parallel Universe — Art Gallery
A digital sculpture as immersive as the artwork it presents
The brief
Where we started
Artist Ihor Yaskevych needed a digital home for his 'Parallel Universe' steampunk sculpture series — one that matched the philosophical weight and visual drama of physical work built from salvaged, readymade materials.
Make the website itself feel like an extension of the sculpture series, not a portfolio wrapper around it
Build a scroll experience dramatic enough to do justice to large-scale physical artwork on a screen
Support bilingual (EN/UK) storytelling without compromising the visual experience in either language
The challenge
What we were up against
A standard portfolio grid — thumbnail, title, click to enlarge — would have flattened work that's meant to be walked around and experienced in three dimensions. The sculptures blend steampunk mechanics with readymade philosophy, and a generic template would have stripped out exactly the qualities that make the series compelling in person.
The project also needed to serve two language audiences (Ukrainian and international English-speaking collectors/press) without the site feeling like a translated afterthought in either direction.
2
languages designed natively from the start, not bolted on after launch
What was at stake
For a working artist, the website often is the first (and only) way collectors, curators, and press ever encounter the work — a flat presentation risked the entire series being underestimated.
Our approach
How we tackled it
We worked directly with the artist so digital staging decisions served the meaning behind each sculpture, not just the aesthetics.
Step 1
Artist Collaboration
We worked directly with Ihor to understand the conceptual intent behind each sculpture, so digital staging decisions (camera angle, pacing, sequencing) served the meaning, not just the aesthetics.
Step 2
Video & Portal Sequencing
Full-screen video backgrounds and portal-style transitions were sequenced so each scroll feels like stepping through to a new dimension — mirroring the series' 'parallel universe' concept directly.
Step 3
Bilingual Content Architecture
Content structures were built to support EN/UK from the ground up, including layout accommodations for the different text lengths and reading rhythms of each language.
Step 4
Performance-Conscious Motion Build
Heavy video and animation assets were optimized and lazy-loaded so the cinematic experience doesn't come at the cost of load time.
The solution
The work, up close
The final site is a bilingual (EN/UK) experience featuring a video-driven hero, an animated gallery with portal-style reveals for each sculpture, an artist biography paired with adventure/travel photography, an events calendar, and a merchandise section.
Every transition — from gallery item to gallery item, from section to section — uses the same portal-and-parallax language, so scrolling through the site feels less like browsing a portfolio and more like moving through the sculpted universe itself.
Portal-Style Section Transitions
Every major scroll transition uses a layered parallax 'portal' effect, turning ordinary scrolling into part of the storytelling.
Video-Driven Sculpture Reveals
Each sculpture is introduced with short video rather than a static photo, capturing the mechanical, kinetic elements static images miss entirely.
True Bilingual Design
EN and UK content were designed together from day one, avoiding the cramped or mistranslated feel of sites where a second language is added later.
Design details
Under the hood
Typography
A weathered, industrial serif for headings evokes the steampunk material palette, paired with a clean sans for legibility in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts.
Color palette
Components
20 bespoke, art-directed components rather than a generic reusable library — appropriate for a one-of-a-kind art project.
Responsive design
Video backgrounds gracefully degrade to art-directed static frames on mobile to preserve both performance and mood.
The results
What it delivered
Bilingual (EN/UK) site launched natively in both languages
20 bespoke, art-directed page components
Full video-driven gallery replacing static thumbnails
6-week concept-to-launch timeline for a fully custom build
A one-of-a-kind web experience that elevates the sculpture series into a digital destination — visitors report exploring rather than merely browsing, and the bilingual structure has opened the work to a wider international audience.
“Placeholder client quote — replace with real words before launch.”
Tools & technologies
What we built it with
FigmaNext.jsGSAP
