When Copenhagen fell in love with Barbara’s looms
In October 1966, architect and historian Ismeth Raheem left for further studies in architecture to the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen.
When his colourful handloom shirts attracted attention and numerous compliments, Raheem was struck with the idea that maybe he could hold an exhibition of Barbara Sanson’s handlooms in Copenhagen.
The Ceylon Tea Centre strategically located in the centre of town in one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in the old city seemed an ideal venue. It was an arresting two storeyed building and the tea centre was frequented largely by women who found it a cosy meeting place. The restaurant and tea service were on the ground floor and the exhibition, Raheem envisaged, could be on a larger space on the upper floor.
In planning the Barbara Sansoni exhibition, he was assisted by Delini Wijeyesekera and Norwegian-born Gun Pieris (wife of cricketer P.I. Peiris) who were back home in Colombo. They were in touch with Barbara on what would be the ideal clothing that could be marketed in Denmark. Popular styles such as ‘ponchos’ were tailored under the supervision of Delini and Gun in their respective homes and then shipped to Copenhagen, with the other items and textile materials from Barbara’s handloom workshops.
Designed for the Danes: A Danish model in a Barbara Sansoni creation
Anticipation was building. Ceylon handlooms will make news in Copenhagen, read a headline in the Times Weekender (September 21and 23, 1968).
By the first week of September, the tailored garments were ready to be air freighted from Colombo to Copenhagen on Air Ceylon.
With fellow architect Anura Ratnavibhushana’s unstinting help, Raheem overcame many of the hurdles. By October 4, 1968, everything was in place and with Meinert Johansen (the director of the Ceylon Tea Centre Copenhagen) backing them, the exhibition of Barbara Sansoni’s striking handlooms had the Danes all agog. The Danish newspaper ‘Politiken’ carried a review and by the final day of the exhibition, sales had amounted to 35, 000 Danish kroner – the entire sum sent back to Colombo to alleviate the problem of importing dyes from Europe given the stringent exchange control regulations at the time.
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