Creating unique keepsakes
Pix by Akila Jayawardena
“I love the idea that you can take an old shoe box and fill it with all your cards and letters and many years later, revisit them. I think things like that are so precious. This is a notion I’d like to pass on to my children as well – they will hold in their hands something we’ve held or something their grandparents have held and I think that’s diminishing now”, says self-taught artist and owner of Aquarelle Keepsakes, Shihara Iyne.
A product of Ladies’ College, she pursued her higher education at Oxford Brookes University in England where she received a joint honors degree in Psychology and Educational Studies before completing a Postgraduate Certificate of Education at the London Metropolitan University. Now a stay-at-home mother, Shihara says that her deep-seated creative side never wavered even during her years as a primary school teacher in the UK.
Following the birth of her children and her return to Sri Lanka in 2014, it wouldn’t be until the latter end of 2019 that Shihara would unveil her framed paintings under the name Aquarelle Keepsakes for the first time, as part of a pop-up stall. Having gone off the feedback of friends and family for the longest time, the face-to-face interactions with potential buyers and the genuine reactions of passersby admiring her work served as fresh encouragement for her to develop the business further with the addition of greeting cards into her product range.
Shihara Iyne and some of her pretty creations
Even during COVID-19 pandemic the following year and the lockdowns, she was kept busy with incoming orders and commissions.
Shihara says that the decision to base a business on sentimental keepsakes came, in part, from her own need for personalised gifts to send to her friends and family. She says “I love personalised gifts and meaningful gifts and I was on the lookout for something that people will continue to keep and won’t re-gift’’.
Harnessing her own artistic abilities, she eventually took to creating her own unique keepsakes in her now signature watercolor style and hand lettering.
Inspired mainly by the English countryside and similar floral aesthetics, her products feature charming wreaths and borders of pastel toned posies and shimmering hand painted lettering. The name Aquarelle, of French origin and referring to the technique of painting thin, transparent watercolor brushstrokes, seemed the most fitting for her new venture.
Long time followers of Shihara’s creations may have noticed a gradual shift from softer, more understated hues to more vibrant and sunny shades in her paintings and she shares that the change came as a result of her move back to Sri Lanka. Influenced by the bold colours often seen in Sri Lankan art, she eventually began incorporating more tropical elements into her product range and showcasing local flora and herbaceous designs to add new layers to her creations.
“I’m quite a sentimental person and I love nostalgia and in this digital age where not everything is tangible, I value written cards that you receive in the post or by hand – I want to spark a revival of handwritten things like that”, says Shihara.
Follow Aquarelle Keepsakes on Instagram and Facebook @aquarellekeepsakes
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