Arts
Making a bold statement with her colourful creations
-
- Chiran Medis
-
- Some of her pretty designs. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
A quaintrelle is a woman who emphasizes a life of passion expressed through personal style, leisurely pastimes, charm, and a cultivation of life’s pleasures. Chiran Medis chose this name for her own business selling costume jewellery. From butterflies to inspiring quotes (short ones of course) and even the traditional ‘wes munu’ (Sri Lankan masks), she does it all. This one-woman operation sees her assemble every single earring, pendant, cufflink etc. by herself before marketing and selling them.
Chiran hopes that her colourful jewellery will inspire bold fashion trends.
A past pupil of Methodist College, Chiran has a Bachelor of Arts specializing in History (Colombo University), and a Master of Business Administration. She worked in the corporate sector before becoming a teacher at her former school. It was while she was teaching that she decided to try making earrings for herself as she couldn’t find jewellery designers who undertook customised orders. When friends began asking her to make earrings, she started selling them part time before creating a business venture. Working from her home in Moratuwa, Chiran custom makes anything requested incorporating school logos to an ultrasound of a baby.
“It’s really just painting,” she says, explaining that the rest of the process is quite simple. She paints the flat side of a glass bead, dries it and assembles it on a brass base. She admits that there was extensive research which went into her looking at what paints to use, what glue works best etc., and says that one pair could take anywhere from one to three days. In a day, Chiran works on an average of ten earrings.
If she can’t paint a particular request, she does custom prints of it – although she admits that the custom prints are rather hard. She shows us a pair she’s working on where around 10 image printouts have been printed for a single pair. “Sometimes no matter how careful you are, an air bubble gets in and then you have to start all over again,” she says. Apart from earrings, she also makes pendants, rings and cuff-links.
“One of the best feelings is when you see someone wearing one of your designs,” says Chiran.
She hopes that she will inspire other Sri Lankan girls and women to stop doubting themselves and become quaintrelles of their own.
Chiran can be contacted on 0727156960(Whatsapp/Call/Text), Instagram – (quaintrelle by chiran); https://instagram.com/quaintrelle_by_chiran?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=hzgdqkn5id2r, Facebook – https://m.facebook.com/Quaintrellebychiran/ or visit her blog https://quaintrellebychiran.wordpress.com/blog/.