President felicitates Lankan arts and craft talent

Friday, 3 March 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President Maithripala Sirisena felicitates an award winner at Shilpa Abhimani Presidential Awards session at Polgolla Kandy on 1 March joined by Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen

600 Sri Lankan craft winners in many sectors
Presidential Crafts competition was held at 2016 Int’l Expo

An unprecedented number of Lankan craftsmen were felicitated for the first time at Shilpa Abhimani National Handicrafts Awards ceremony in Polgolla, Kandy.

Bestowing the accolades to Lankan crafts sector was none other than HE the President Maithripala Sirisena, who was joined by Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen and State Minister of Industry and Commerce Champika Premadasa.

The Shilpa Abhimani Presidential Awards session of 1 March in Polgolla, Kandy was organised by the National Crafts Council.

The event honoured almost 600 winners of 2016 November Handicrafts Competition held along with 2016 SAARC Handicraft Exhibition in November 2016. The winners were selected from a wide range of handicraft sectors – from clay, mats, fibres, jute, cotton, cane and bamboo, metal, jewellery related crafts, masks and puppets, carvings, musical instruments, textiles and textile based, lace, lacquer works, wood based crafts, leather crafts, stone based crafts and paintings and sculptures – and even specialised crafts such as batik and Sri Lanka’s own dumbara designs.

The 2016 SAARC Handicraft Exhibition at BMICH was held from 17-20 November 2016, with more than 30,000 participants. It was the first ever such national handicrafts expo that was held in Sri Lanka with international participants. It was joined by craftsmen from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, a first-ever such collaboration seen in Sri Lankan crafts sector.

President Maithripala Sirisena inspects an award winning wooden vessel on display at Shilpa Abhimani Presidential Awards session at Polgolla Kandy on 1 March joined by Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen (second from left) and State Minister of Industry and Commerce Champika Premadasa (third from left)