| Talented young designers from the Moratuwa University working in the fields of fashion and textiles, jewellery, ceramics, graphics and communication and furniture will be exhibiting their various designs at the Colombo Art Gallery from May 3-5 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The artists are the current graduating batch of the only Bachelor of Design degree course in the country and the exhibits are the final projects they did for the culmination of their course. This is the sixth such batch to graduate since the inception of the course and while the others also held exhibitions of their final projects which were open to the public, this will be the first batch to take it out of the university premises and exhibit in Colombo.
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| The team behind the fashion creations |
The course itself is unique not only because it’s the only such comprehensive, four-year degree course available within the country but because it encourages students to inculcate their Sri Lankan heritage into their designs, incorporating the country’s natural materials, traditional motifs and values with creativity and modern aesthetics into their products be it fashion, furniture or ceramics.
All 31 of the graduands have obviously learned that lesson well as can be seen in most of their designs.
“We are taught to stay true to our roots and preserve our cultural identity. All our products suit present-day society but they won’t look alien to Sri Lankans. In fact the theme of the exhibition is ‘Tradition to Modernity’. I based my project on deconstructing used clothing and reusing them, basically reusing, recycling and minimizing wastage of clothes,” said one of the students Dinushi Ariyaratne.
One of their innovative ideas was for Sri Lankanized interior decor for the Katunayake International Airport lounge. All the décor, tables and chairs are obviously comfortable but instead of being like those in scores of other airports across the world, the lounge would welcome visitors into a distinctively Sri Lankan atmosphere. The design and materials used for the furniture, the design and fabrics of the cushions all are distinctively Sri Lankan.
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One of Chamalee’s
items of jewellery |
A creation by Ruwanthi |
The centrepiece was provided by a ceramics design student who designed a huge Danda Monara Yathraya (the aerial vehicle purportedly used by the legendary king Ravana) from porcelain. Other interesting exhibits in the furniture section was a set of mobile, light weight furniture that can fit into a cupboard which can then be wheeled around. A children’s toy, it has space for the child to sleep in it, play in it and learn in it -a playing cum learning tool that can be easily assembled and disassembled.
“This course is so much fun to learn, all seven of us (in the fashion batch) have a real passion for what we do,” said Shamalee De Silva, who for her project, researched the traditional wedding attire and jewellery for both men and women and designed her own costumes and jewellery for a traditional Sinhala wedding.
“We basically work with silver and artificial gems, as gold is too expensive. For my project, I researched a lot on jewellery worn by our ancient kings and designed jewellery that Dutugemunu would wear in a film,”chipped in Sandamali Maddumabandara, another student who specialised in fashion design.
Tharindu Harivansa’s project was luxury furniture for a local five star hotel. “Notice the design on the chairs? I used a leaf motif and I have used it in all the furniture,” he pointed out.
Among the work done by the Ceramics group was the student who had worked with materials such as red clay that is abundant in Sri Lanka to make utensils and cookware. She had designed a curd pot with lids and handle made of coconut leaves so that it is easily transportable and the curd does not spill over.
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| Krishanthi’s ceramic
creation |
Fashioning small containers made of locally available natural materials for use in kovils, where they need such containers to keep tumeric, kum kum, sandal wood paste and holy ash for the visitors, she had added traditional motifs and auspicious designs, also creating small lamps to be used in the temples.
In the jewellery section, we came across a range of jewellery made from glass, and another made of discarded clothing for use by rock bands. There was also evening wear fashioned mostly out of lace, which had as its theme, the prevention of child sex abuse and another collection that was focused on the evils of smoking.
Seeing the creative and professionally executed creations, visitors to the exhibition will walk away with a sense of accomplishment and pride, imbued with the joie de vivre and sense of cultural heritage that these students have managed to incorporate into all their work.
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