Sri Lanka’s first Virtual Design Festival – SLDF 2021
View(s):AOD is Sri Lanka’s pioneering design educator, an influential creative authority and most future ready design dynamic. Over the years it has established itself as the most trusted partner for design led industries locally and internationally through its holistic and unique approach to design education. It is behind some of the most powerful design initiatives in the country, such as the Sri Lanka Design Festival (SLDF) which is the largest celebration of creativity in Sri Lanka.
SLDF was conceptualized by the A
cademy of Design (AOD) in 2009 to fulfill the need for a platform with global reach to support and strengthen the growing industries in Sri Lanka that were being competitive with the amalgamation of design, technology & innovation. A key segment of SLDF has always been showcasing young emerging design talent that would disrupt the industry – the graduating designers of AOD.
This unique combination of education, exposure and opportunities is what makes the AOD designer, a one-of-a-kind creative professional.
This year, SLDF unfurls as Sri Lanka’s first virtual design festival and will be open for anyone to join. AOD’s ever-popular annual graduate show ‘Reveal’ that premiers the latest talent in design, will present a virtual preview at the festival and the Mercedes Benz Fashion Talent (MBFT) showcase will feature the emerging fashion design talent of Sri Lanka. These can be watched by visiting and the Sri Lanka Design Festival website –
www.srilankadesignfestival.lk
Making AOD talent visible to worldwide audiences, the virtual edition of Reveal and MBFT will showcase the emerging design talent that is nurtured through AOD’s unique approach to design education. 
Reveal and MBFT will be curated by AOD, bringing in teasers to the top design projects of the year, interviews, mini films, and picture galleries that will capture the works of AOD’s fashion, design, graphics and animation faculties and through SLDF give the graduating designers the opportunity to take their voices to an internationally viewed platform. Thus, providing AOD graduates a chance to show their talents to a network of the best employment opportunities at home and overseas, as global shifts in work methods allow businesses to employ talent from any corner in the world.
For students after O/Ls and A/Ls, and their parents, Reveal and the MBFT showcases become a way to explore some of the most promising educational pathways and corresponding careers for the emerging new world. As much as these showcases are a direct representation of the employable design talent that Sri Lanka has to offer the business world, both showcases have also been an important centre of creative culture, with a constant influx of young voices in fashion, interior architecture, animation, photography, film and visual communication congregating there to use the event as a platform to express, share and influence.
The Reveal graduate showcase takes a hybrid approach this year with a physical event scheduled to take place parallel to the virtual Sri Lanka Design Festival during 15-17January at the Colombo Innovation Tower, which can be attended free of charge, through pre-registration.
While the graduate design talent showcases are segments of the SLDF, the full festival features the wide variety and scope of the creative industries in Sri Lanka and how design plays a significant role across sectors with well renowned artists, creatives and designers sharing their insights.
The events are open and free for anyone and everyone interested in design to follow and be inspired.
If you’ve got a creative calling login to www.srilankadesignfestival.lk to register for SLDF 2021 and follow the social media channels: Instagram (@sldesignfest) and Facebook (sldesignfest)