CAN Market is back in business!
Exotic and natural: Gayathri Padduka explaining her products to a customer. Pix by Eshan Fernando
The Creative Isle CAN Market is back! Relaunched last weekend at the One Galle Face mall, with over 70 vendors from small businesses, local entrepreneurs and creatives the CAN Market is striding confidently into the ‘new normal’.
Spread across the Level 1 to 3 floors, it was a welcome sight to see Sri Lanka’s small business owners busying themselves with potential customers, selling their goods and eagerly explaining the history behind their products. Initially operational last year, the pandemic lockdowns had compelled a temporary halt but last weekend Colombo’s Mayoress Rosy Senanayake alongside founder of the Creative Isle CAN initiative, Keshini Ann Suraweera and Country Manager of Shangri-La One Galle Face Mall Timothy Wright declared the Market back in business.
Husband and wife Lynold and Shanthi Henegame have been running their business Country Cottage together for the past 30 years through word-of-mouth from their Ratmalana home. The CAN Market was their first effort selling at an outside location. “ All our products are homemade and no preservatives are added. We started off with chilli paste and now we have moved onto sauces and even wine,” Shanthi tells us with her husband adding that their slogan is ‘homemade with love’.
Homely stall: Rosy Senanayake and Keshini Ann Suraweera taking a look at the Country Cottage range
Just behind this homely stall we meet a group of men who have for the past five years been working in a tourism company which last year branched off into selling spices. Exotiques by Insel has the standard spice range and ginger, garlic, onion and more, their spices largely sourced from Jaffna and Badulla. “We are trying our best to stay at the CAN Market as much as possible because we gain a lot of exposure. We are also available at SPAR supermarkets and export as well,” says Director of Finance, Shevonne Herath.
With a focus on eco-friendly and natural products, the CAN Market is brimming with skilled creators. Table mats, table runners, cushions and home decor are laid out artistically on the table where Nirmali Ranawake smilingly presides. She has been sewing as a hobby for the past 20 years and is now venturing to sell her creations through the CAN Market for the first time. She is also registered at the National Crafts Council.
All natural: Kanchana Hettiarachchi
Founder of Nelumbo Natura, Kanchana Hettiarachchi was doing a study on ‘Social stress on cosmetics’ in university when she realised the dark underbelly of the cosmetic industry of carcinogenic products. Wanting to make a difference to this industry, Kanchana went on to research, investigate and develop an ointment made from 100% natural Aloe Vera extract with a skin-friendly pH value that did not contain any heavy metals and is free of preservatives. Kanchana says she is on a journey to transform cosmetic products one by one.
Nelumbo Natura also encourages homemakers to earn an income by growing aloe plants in their gardens.
U.A. Ajith has been carving and making wooden items for the past 25 years and has built a network of workshops for his eco-friendly products in Kandana, Nittambuwa, Matale and other towns. Elisha Gospel Handicrafts is his range of crockery, decor and utensils made of bamboo, wood and coconut shell. Ajith has been passing on his skills and mentoring workers under him as he sees great demand for his products with many items being sent abroad.
“ It has its own ecosystem and only once in a while do you need to water it,” founder of Arbor, Dhinali Ranasinghe tells us about her terrariums which are like miniature gardens or forests grown in sealed glass containers containing soil and plants. An aquarium for plants, she smiles. She has been doing terrariums for a year now and hopes that the peace and calm that washes over her while watching her terrarium grow will be a shared experience for many others soon.
Watch them grow: Arbor nature garden
Nilanka Iddamalgoda started Eco Pack 6 years ago as a small business selling recycled banana fibre paper to close friends and family. Now she sells eco-friendly recycled papers, paper bags, boxes, wedding cards and more having slowly scaled up her orders throughout the past few years. “ I had always been interested in paper-based play and when experimenting with banana leaves, I realised paper can be easily recyclable in many ways,” she says.
Blue pea body butter, beetroot lip balm, oil and herbal shampoos are what Gayathri Padduka proudly shows us at her ‘Gayu Natural’ stall of homemade, 100% natural products. Customers feel the difference, she affirms, a testament being her popular soaps that she started off with at CAN Market last year.
CAN Market is open every weekend at Level 1 to 3 at the One Galle Face mall from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Visit CANmarket.lk and social media pages for more information.