Sale of hand embroidered home items and sarees by Andrea Boekel

For certain, it would be hard to find a woman who is not captivated by exquisite, handmade lace and intricate hand embroidery. These beautiful techniques captured by Andrea Boekel in a range of home items such as table linen, bed linen, cushion covers, table runners and placemats will be featured at a sale on Saturday, March 21. This year the sale will also have a small collection of one-of-a-kind, Batik sarees on pure French silk. Andrea has designed these sarees and carefully put the colours together to be created by a team of batik artists from Chilaw. The deep, vibrant colours resonate with the vibrancy of our tropical surroundings. Also on sale will be a range of shadow-worked blouses, skirts and nightwear. Andrea Boekel, whose name is synonymous with these time-honoured crafts, has for many years, given of her skills to village women in remote areas of Sri Lanka. With her expert mentoring, these women, many who head single-parent households, have flourished and in the process achieved life skills and a sense of purpose. With her background in art, Andrea has skilfully maneouvered textile to be treated as an art medium, transforming textiles and thread into beautiful items that also serve a practical purpose. She is a visiting lecturer in textile art at two Australian universities. Andrea also believes that despite the investment of time and resources into the production of these items, they should never be out of reach to those who appreciate such things. Her products are realistically priced belying the quality of workmanship and materials. The sale will be held for one day, only on Saturday, March 21 at No. 16 Kinross Avenue, Colombo from 9 a.m. onwards.