A tropical look for a brighter Christmas
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- Tropical: Hibiscus and heliconias
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- Crescat Christmas: Guilded cages and above, a touch of festive red
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- MAIC: Eric and Charith
Once again adorning Crescat Boulevard with a refreshing take on the holiday season is the artful decor by MAIC. Their tropical-themed Christmas has beautiful golden hibiscus, stunning red heliconias and baubles in gilded cages to embody birds that have flown into the wilderness during the season. The look is festive and full of Sri Lankan style elements.
With the onset of the pandemic, it has almost been two years since people have properly celebrated Christmas. Charith De Silva and Eric Wijeratne, the founders of MAIC have had this idea of a tropical Christmas for a while given that Sri Lanka wasn’t exactly at the right location of the globe for us to be experiencing a white Christmas.
For the two childhood friends – they date their friendship back to Year 1 at St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, their journey with decor began during prep for ‘Shakes’ ( the annual inter-school Shakespeare Drama Competition). However, it was years later when they helped out with a colleague’s wedding decor that Eric and Charith took the idea that they had when they were kids of starting a business together seriously . It was a slow but sure journey to what MAIC is today.
Work has suffered due to the pandemic, they freely admit and with their decor not exactly the kind you could buy off the shelf, instead a curated conceptualised experience, it was not easy. But things are quickly starting to pick up, Charith feels.
Theirs is a long detailed process from start to finish. Taking the Sunday Times through the process of pitching an idea to a client to working their magic on location, Charith says that once they figure out what kind of budget and space they are working with, a ‘safe’ option and a ‘MAIC’ option are both presented to the client. The safe option obviously is your traditional standard aesthetic while the MAIC option is something that may not be everyone’s cup of tea but will guarantee a few turning of heads.
Everything at MAIC is locally produced with Sri Lankan talent. “Eric and I visualise but it’s these guys (the craftsmen)who actually bring our ideas to life. During the pandemic, they didn’t have much work going on and it’s great to see them making use of their skills again,” Charith shares, emphasizing how the local craftsmanship is unlike any other and people should look inwards instead of overseas when it comes to decor.
After trial and error alongside their craftsmen, it is a carefully thought-out process as to which materials will be durable and give the effect needed, delivering the best quality out of the decor including the finishes and meeting deadlines. As they have a sprawling network of craftsmen, each with their own strength, materials and concepts are delivered and discussed over the phone.
“Everyone’s so used to going to shops to buy stuff, but it’s a shame sometimes that we think we can’t do what other countries do here. We still have a lot to learn but there’s a lot of talent in this country and that’s what we are trying to prove,” Charith says passionately adding that they strive to do something new every year, and push the market little by little.
For the newly renovated Crescat Boulevard halls which reopened last week with the lighting of the Christmas tree, almost every element of the decor was handmade and locally sourced except for the fir Christmas tree. Although going ‘tropical’, the gold hues bring in that seasonal feel with reds adding that vibrant natural look.
It’s definitely a Christmas sight that you wouldn’t want to miss! Check out MAIC’s take on a tropical Christmas at Crescat.
See also MAIC’s other works on Instagram @conceptsbymaic and Facebook @decorbymaic
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