Sri Lanka kicks off top design show this week

By Cassandra Mascarenhas

The Ministry of Economic Development along with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Sri Lanka Tourism pledged their support to the Sri Lanka Design Festival 2011, Sri Lanka’s biggest annual celebration of design and apparel, being held for the third consecutive year from 16 to 20 November at a cost of $ 0.2million this time around.

With the festival’s growing involvement with rural artisans and the country’s SME sector, along with the products being designed and showcased this year geared towards the hotel industry, the three ministries have seen it within their interests to get involved in SLDF.

“I am glad that this event comes at a crucial time as we have just seen that Sri Lanka’s export earnings during January 2011 to August 2011 increase to $ 6.9 billion, this is a 28.6 per cent increase in comparison to the corresponding period in 2010,” explained Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen at the launch of SLDF last week.

“The textiles and garments sector has contributed immensely to this performance with a considerable share of 39.5 per cent from the total export earnings and more importantly, this sector’s earnings increased by 27.4 per cent therefore I am confident that the largest creative arts event in Sri Lanka will help enhance our international outreach so that our export target of $15 billion in 2015 will be effectively realised.”

He also lauded the festival for their increased focus on island craft and drawing in the North and East into the programme this year, pointing out that the micro and SME sectors are the backbone of Sri Lanka’s economy, accounting for almost 70 per cent of the economy and hence projects such as these targeting the north and east is a crucial step for the future economic development of Sri Lanka.

Artistes from all over Sri Lanka during the festival will be given the opportunity to share their experiences and talent with the international delegation that will be present at SLDF which will include key industry figures from UK, US, India and Germany.

“It is a well known fact that design plays a key role in any marketing effort, whether it is local and international. Since the global economy is becoming highly volatile especially in the US and European markets which receives almost 60 per cent of Sri Lanka’s exports, we need to become more competitive in various aspects of production and more importantly, in our product design. I believe that the festival will also provide us with lessons from supply and demand sides which we can then apply to develop our industry’s design sector as well,” Bathiudeen added.

Academy of Design Managing Director Linda Speldewinde explained that with the introduction of the rural art design communities last year, with the changing landscape of the country, SLDF has introduced a very strong north and east presence this year, along with artisans from the Central Province and the South.

“We had an island craft exhibition last year and for example, the beeralu lace workers from Galle facilitated a collaboration with ASOS in the UK and this was launched at Paris Fashion Week a few months ago, so that was one achievement. We also have really been working with the north and east taking those crafts forward this year, so since January until now we have been engaged in Mannar, Mullaitivu, Jaffna and the rest of the country and those will be showcased at the design festival this year. It has been a progression from last year,” she said.  Speldewinde went on to say that SLDF would showcase the entire island’s crafts as never seen before in Sri Lanka this year. Explaining the tourism sector’s involvement this year, she pointed out that the country can finally use its own crafts without importing from Vietnam or Thailand anymore. Therefore all the products are being specifically designed and showcased, geared towards to the hotel industry because big volumes are required to help the rural economy and the north and east at the moment.

“The island crafts exhibition and fashion show will be held twice, the second time for 350 people from the rural communities because it’s not only the group in Colombo that needs to see all of this but also the people actually working on the crafts. I think that it is the first time that these 350 people have ever seen that calibre of fashion and crafts which should be good for their exposure because it will develop their eye and help them to better design their products,” she stated.

The rest of the programme she assured would remain the same with a stronger than ever industry apparel agenda along with the crafts of the rural economy getting a strong focus this year.