| I discovered Ananda Coomaraswamy through ‘Mediaeval Sinhalese Art’ in the late 60’s when I was a hungry architectural student at Katubedda. This book was a great inspirational source to the point that it became my main reference manual to the traditional arts and crafts of this country throughout my student and professional life.
During my long sogiorno of 12 years in the heart of the contemporary world of industrial design-Milan, I continually nursed the thought that someday, I would relate and transfer my experience and exposure to my own country. I received this opportunity on my return home when I was appointed design consultant to the National Design Centre of Sri Lanka on an ILO assignment in March 1986.
This was a challenging task where I had to execute a rapid crafts development programme through the Design Unit I established at the NDC within a short period of one year.
The mid 80’s was a difficult period for Sri Lanka. Suddenly, due to the commencement of the war, tourism, which was flourishing prior to 1983 took a downward turn. The craft sector of Sri Lanka was very badly affected, which made our task a formidable one as our entire project depended on the collaboration and support of the craftsmen. Vernon Peiris, the former chairman of the NDC, gave me a free hand and I was able to virtually execute a miniature “Bauhaus” with the crafts people of Sri Lanka.
The main objectives of our project centred on reviving waning crafts traditions, sensitively modifying and adjusting traditional designs and motifs to make them meaningful to contemporary markets and improving the technical quality of the products. As I established a Design Unit I was tasked with recruiting design staff, establishing a Design Studio at the NDC and providing staff members with the necessary training. I recruited Champa Gunasekara, an architectural assistant, Nandani Wanduragala, an engineering graduate with a flair for design and Yuki Hakugai, a Japanese volunteer with a fine arts degree to form the nucleus of the design team.
We converted the second floor of the NDC building into a design studio where we created a congenial ambience to stimulate the designers as well as the visiting craftsmen. As a result, test marketing became a rewarding exercise.
The team conducted training programmes for the design staff concurrently with the product development programme with a view to exhibit the entire collection for public viewing. We named the proposed exhibition “Silpa”. The design team travelled extensively, scouring the country-side for skilled artisans. We found them in little pockets of forgotten villages where they eked out a living, plying the skills of their forefathers: the Gypsy village Kanatoluwa near Chilaw where they turned out beautiful indigenous “kuruniyas”, the hardy cane baskets in which rural folk stored their sweetmeats, the potter village in Panduwasnuwara, where they moulded goblets and urns, employing the sensuously rounded curves their ancestors had used for centuries.
We discovered the women potters of Alawwa by sheer accident when we came upon a large clay pot in front of a roadside ayurvedic dispensary. Our inquiries curiously led us to Piyasili’s village of women potters. I later had the opportunity of helping this village through the Canadian Development Programme by providing a proper roadway across the paddy fields to the village to facilitate the transport of the raw materials on a hand tractor instead of physically carrying it across the paddy fields.
On our field trips we also discovered Pubilis, who was making unique sculptural clay horse heads and animal figures. Our interaction with the craft village at Nattarampotha, where the Design Centre had an office, was the most rewarding, as we encountered the production of brass items. The Dumbara mat weaving village in Henawela was another traditional crafts village where we had very successful exchanges, improving their traditional designs and upgrading their weaving technique.
Winning the confidence of the craftsmen was a major challenge. We always carried with us a copy of Mediaeval Sinhalese Art (Sinhala edition), and photocopies of the book relevant to that specific craft to leave with the craftsmen. To make sure prototype development was of no financial burden to the artisans, we purchased all their products with a view to encouraging and stimulating their interest in this project, showing them that this exercise would eventually benefit them.
We had lengthy discussions with the crafts people on our field trips. We asked them whether they could remember what their forefathers used to make and encouraged them to reproduce them wherever possible. To bring about an awareness of traditional motifs, design forms and lines of craft objects, the Design Team organized visits to temples, museums, galleries, exhibitions and arts and crafts outlets. We also photographed craft objects and Ola leaf manuscripts and studied Sinhala calligraphy for their application on craft products. The team generated measured drawings of museum objects and mural paintings. We then reproduced the design motifs for application on fabrics, reed and rush-ware.
During this period, we conducted extensive research and held discussions at the Design Studio on collected craft objects, photographic material (slides and prints) and the measured drawings generated during field trips. We experimented with new colour combinations for the application of imported dyes on reed and rush ware and evolved new designs and motifs. Workshops were held at the craft villages and the NDC centre at Nattarampotha and Moratuwa related to product development. Mediaeval Sinhalese Art was our main source of reference throughout this project.
Within this short period of time assigned to me to meet the requirements of a new line of production for the exhibition, I concentrated my efforts on areas such as brass, cane, rush, hana, wooden products and pottery. The other area of training was in the application of elements of traditional design in an uncluttered form. For example, we took details from traditional motifs and enlarged them to give a more pronounced visual impact in keeping with contemporary tastes. The mat borders were also refined to suit the new concepts. Moreover, new designs and products were developed and emphasis was also laid on the revival of waning crafts traditions.
It took us ten months of concentrated activity to create the products for ‘Silpa’. The exhibits bore evidence of the design approach and reflected the dedicated and collaborative efforts of the design team and craftsmen. I believed that the foremost function of the National Design Centre should be to spearhead the advancement of design and to stimulate and creatively energise all those concerned with the production of art forms in the country. A National Design Centre should foster and encourage a true awareness of the past in its inevitable transmutation into the present.
‘Silpa’, the exhibit of the first collection of the crafts products developed by the Design Unit of the NDC at the National Gallery of Art in 1987 was my way of paying tribute to the crafts people of Sri Lanka and to Ananda Coomaraswamy for his monumental work on Mediaeval Sinhalese Art and Crafts, forty years after his death. | 
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