REVEAL 2019: Exciting new careers and global opportunities for AOD grads
View(s):
The latest graduating class from AOD are being exposed to a series of life-changing job opportunities and work networks at the Reveal graduate design showcase this year. Reveal annually becomes a platform to over a hundred young designers graduating from AOD, giving them the opportunity to present their best works to a powerful audience of businesses looking to meet and hire tomorrow’s design thinkers. This year, Reveal also becomes the stage to launch AOD’s inspiring new vision to create, design and innovate for Sri Lanka. It is being held at the country’s latest catalyst space—Colombo Innovation Tower—under the theme ‘Listen to the future’, highlighting the importance of creating room for tomorrow’s talent. The event was open to the public for three days, following a private viewing held for industry leaders, diplomats, local and international academics, and special invitees from the business world. AOD is currently in the process of confirming hiring inquiries and job placements that came in during Reveal 2019, channeling its graduating talent into several industries and sectors like apparel, architecture, exports, advertising and retail. AOD has announced that Reveal exhibition and the experiential laboratories held as part of it, will remain open until 15th December 2019, at the Colombo Innovation Tower (CIT).
The sleek work interiors of the CIT have been completely transformed over the last weekend with the vibrant energy of AOD’s graduating designers. Over a hundred young designers who are graduating as qualified professionals, AOD alumni who are successful design entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, as well as selected creative talent from school-level took over eighteen floors of space in the Colombo Innovation Tower with their work. This work is an inspiring representation of young creative voices from South Asia, expressing their ideas, viewpoints and solutions to shifts in culture, gender, human habits and wellbeing, as well as nature and the environment. Their unique ideas, and especially solutions, drew major interest from the business community attending the event, as promising ways to incorporate interesting new thinking, innovation, and creativity to products and services. Managing Director of Design Corp Group of Companies—Lin Gong-Deutschmann said that the importance for businesses in discovering young talent, lies in the need to innovate; “Every business out there today knows that without innovation, they will become obsolete within a few years. This is why industries and brands are so hungry for young professionals who can think out of the box and create new experiences through products and services. So, I found Reveal 2019 to be extremely important in this sense, as it really became a platform where businesses could meet, and interact with graduating designers and innovators. We saw how many of these young professionals were getting employed by various businesses, so I’m very interested to see how they perform out there, and what changes they bring into the product or service experiences.”
Sri Lanka’s largest dedicated fashion and design showcase
Reveal Graduate Design Showcase is Sri Lanka’s largest fashion and design showcase. This year, it featured work in fashion, visual communication design, and interior design. Work in fashion marketing and management, and animation also have dedicated spaced within the CIT building, creating impressive mix of creative disciplines. AOD is also presenting a series of experiential laboratories at Reveal 2019. The Discovery Lab where creative careers were made sense of for the general public and hiring young talent was made extremely convenient for businesses was among the most popular. The Makers’ Lab at Reveal 2019 was about exposing the link between ideation and making products or services, and the innovation processes that allow creators to bring ideas to reality. The Expression Lab was a powerful example of how ideas are communicated through creative media like art, theatre and music.
The Discussion Lab at Reveal was another experience that attracted many students, parents and aspiring young creatives, through its many interactive conversations on how designers solve problems. The Spatial Laboratory at Reveal 2019 was also an unusual experience, and focused on the science behind making spaces and built environments that work. Signifying AOD’s landmark announcement this year to combine studies in design and technology, the Tech Lab at Reveal was presented as another fascinating experience where young designers, tech enthusiasts and school students can see where design and technology meet as two power-dynamics of the future. In addition to these experiential laboratories, Reveal 2019 also featured a series of workshops, talks and knowledge-sharing sessions that discussed break-through ideas and allowed hands-on explorations in making and crafting.
Graduate Fashion Showcase at Reveal
One of Reveal’s most popular events was the Graduate Fashion Showcase. This included an exhibition and a fashion show featuring graduating designers and outstanding alumni talent from AOD. Here, the most interesting aspect became the graduate-designer collaborations between designers and companies like Hirdaramani, Freudenberg and Vilene International, Emerald, MAS Intimates, MAS Active, MAS Linea Aqua, Coats Thread, Opti Zips, Dilly and Carlo, Anim8, Dynawash, Rainco and Penguin. An ecstatic graduate who got discovered by a company at the Reveal showcase said that it was an overwhelming experience to get connected to her dream job here; “If it wasn’t for AOD and my journey here in design, I wouldn’t have got this incredible opportunity to start my career with my dream job. Reveal was an amazing platform for us to get discovered and I’m so thankful to AOD for making this happen.”
Awards and scholarships
The Reveal Graduate Design Showcase also became the platform for several awards and scholarships to outstanding creativity. One of the most coveted awards presented here was the Sri Lankan representation award for the iconic Graduate Fashion Showcase in London. For years now, AOD has been representing Sri Lankan talent at this global stage, and the winner to represent the country there in 2020 was announced as Kavishna Kuruvitage. Meanwhile, the two prestigious scholarships—Douglas MacLennon Scholarship and the Shilanti Abeywickrema Scholarship—were awarded to Zan Zaliff and Ruwanthie Gajadeera respectively.
Enrolling now for AODs Undergraduate Degree Programs in Design : Fashion Design, Fashion Marketing, Fashion and textiles, Motion Graphics and Animation, Interior Design and Visual Communication degrees .
Call AOD Colombo on 0775727772 for more information, email: info@aod.lk or walk in between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday – AOD, Colombo Innovation Tower, No 58, Lauries Road, Colombo 04.