In his works, the artist amalgamates different periods of his native city interspersing depictions of local coffee houses (hence “Cinnamon Shops”), galleries and stores, placing them, alternately, in Lviv's Austro-Hungarian, Polish and Soviet times.

Jurij Koch was born in 1958 in Lviv. In 1978 and in 1986, respectively, he graduated from the Ivan Trush Art School and the Ukrainian Poligraphic Institute, both in Lviv. He has designed book covers for more than 70 well known Ukrainian authors. He specializes in paintings, posters and book cover designs. He has participated in more than 190 exhibits in 30 countries. His works have earned him prestigious awards at five international art shows.