Inspiring installations

Sri Lanka Design Festival 2022 kicks off with the AOD Grad Exhibition that highlights resilience of creativity and design

December 1 saw the opening of the Sri Lanka Design Festival 2022 giving this year’s Academy of Design (AOD) graduates the floor to share their work with the public. The AOD Grad Exhibition is one of two key events that take place during the annual festival, the other being the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, which has its final night tonight.

The chief guest, British Deputy High Commissioner Lisa Whanstall opened the exhibition and festival with words of inspiration and encouragement while acknowledging the challenging times experienced by the country. “We hope the work you’re doing here and your contribution to the creative industries can play a huge role in building and sustaining economic growth in the future and through innovation, creative thinking and agility, you can also benefit the economy and help grow other areas.”

This year’s SLDF theme ‘Panoramically new, panoramically local, design lokayak’ was based on aspects found in abundance in the country -- creativity, innovative capacity, and talent, staying true to the festival’s continuing support of local design talent and industries to grow beyond the island and reach international markets.

Three floors of the Colombo Innovation Tower, home to the AOD campus, were taken up by installations by graduates in fashion design and marketing, fashion and textile design, and motion graphics and animation design.

Each designer worked around a concept with layers, focusing not only on design but also functionality and sparking conversations on topics ranging from equality and female empowerment to climate change. Having drawn inspiration from architecture, the human body, and Japanese history, the results were striking, an encouraging sign that creativity and design in Sri Lanka remain resilient.

Among the animators and graphic designers, Ruwani Rajapakse’s intelligent use of design incorporated the accessibility of information by simplifying it. Shevon Pieris of Xile Media designed a RolePlayer Game so users can understand the life of the LGBTQ community. A fascinating and novel concept was the guidebook in the form of a comic, illustrated and designed by Adheesha Wickramasuriya, titled ‘A Journey

Above’. Taking his own experience with insomnia, animator Trehan Moonemalle’s trailer of a video game visualising the condition was beautifully designed in all its detailing.

Graduate Sajani Samarakoon, a graphic, fashion, and UI designer created a three-phased experience involving a physical phase, a digital phase, and an emotionbased phase. Also inspired by tech was Keshawee Raddella, whose Tesla-inspired collection was ‘lit’, both figuratively and literally as her clothing designs included LED lighting sewn into them.

Looking to Japan, Nimmie Bernadette of KRO created her collection keeping the Wabi Sabi philosophy of imperfection in mind. Another designer inspired by Japanese culture, Hiruni Abeywardane used many techniques, such as Saskio embroidery, Shibori tie-dying and Gyotaku printing.

Catch the AOD Grad Exhibition today at the Innovation Tower, 447, R.A. de Mel Mawatha, Colombo 4 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.