Academy of Design (AOD) is the principal organizational body behind the inception and continuation of Sri Lanka Design Festival (SLDF). Since SLDF was founded in 2009, the AOD faculty, staff and students continue to support it in various and numerous ways. Academy of Design is Sri Lanka’s only fully integrated design school, which offers students a unique, holistic undergraduate education in the fields of Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design and Jewellery Design

Sri Lanka Design Festival (SLDF) 2010, organized by the Academy of Design Sri Lanka, is over, yet it has achieved its objective to showcase the talents of the students and exhibit their work to the big names in the industry. It also serves as a meeting between the students and the industry professionals.

This is basically an exhibition of the graduating batch of AOD. This is the final project of the BA as well as the HND batch. At the industrial exhibition all architects and people in the industry could see the students work.

Creativity unfurls

“Tonight we are having a small cocktail just for the industry people. As you know we are graduating the first Sri Lankan batch of BA in interior design. They are all going out into the world, so we try to introduce them to people in the industry,” said staff member Joel M Rapp

“This is so they can start engaging in what to do after the graduation. In three or four years they will finish their studies, then they will be out looking for jobs, clients, projects and this night is about starting that process; getting them used to talking to people about their work and talking about work they can do for them.” Said Joel.

Daily News spoke to Yamini, a BA student; her final project is Human Trafficking Combat Centre.

“It is more like a board for those councillors working for the victims as opposed to addressing the victims directly. It act as a campaign centre for future funding. This initial project was funded by USAID, so something is getting done here, so this centre acts as an awareness centre”.

Managing Director of AOD, Linda Speldewinde started the entire school with a very small batch, 20 students. The interior department was started only a couple of years after that. She began the school in the year 2000.

British Council Country Director Gillian Westaway

The AOD is done in partnership with the University of Northumbria. This is the first batch engaged in a BA in affiliation with the University of Northumbria. Linda Speldewinde has tied up with Northumbria University to offer fashion, graphics across all disciplines.

“Design week is a project created by Linda Speldewinde to bring the foreign market, the European Western Market of the garment field into Sri Lanka and show them what all the garment industries are all about. There is a big collaboration between ETB and Sri Lanka Apparels to promote this whole event.

“It is all about promoting craftsmanship and design of Sri Lanka abroad,” said Fashion Designer Tiziano

Tiziano further added that the industry then gets to showcase their clothes, the young crafts, young designers get to exhibit their work and the graduates of the Academy of Design exhibit their work in front of an international audience. “European designers will give them the input on how to increase and make better designs so it is more accepted abroad. It is all about ethical work, environmental, all about the development of work within proper standards,” said Tiziano.

“The BA program is really important. A lot of other schools have satellite programs. They get lesser degrees.

Some exhibits. Pictures by Angelo Samarawickrema

“We are a franchise program. We deliver less in curriculum and it is adjudicated by the same examiners in Britain. So if you get a first class degree from AOD it is equivalent with a first class degree in Northumbria, England,” said Joel M. Rapp.

The degree is valid for employment, for professional service contracts anywhere in the US or in England. HND is a National certification program. But with a BA you have the right to join professional associations, you are qualified to teach and work with firms – this is with a level of professional certification. “In this room 27 people are BA candidates – we are not done yet, we have one more piece to do but I think they will all graduate, that they will all do their last piece. 13 on the other side and just getting their HND, they are coming out of their second year. They will start on their BA next year. There are HND graduates who are going to start their degree and BA graduates who have completed it,” pointed out Joel.

The second year’s final project is six months long. The BA is a one-year long project which incorporates comprehensive research and paper writing, applied feasibility and design to create a fused technically complex piece that shows off all their skills and designs.

Yasangi Yatawara shared her views on the project too.

“This is actually for disabled people since Sri Lanka does not have enough equal opportunities such as education facilities and accessibility. So this uplifts the spirit of disabled people. We will rehabilitate them and they will go as normal people in society.”

Raking Leaves is a publishing organization set up in 2008 by Sharmini Pereira. They were invited by AOD to come and take part in this Design Festival. It basically commissions and publishes artistes’ projects in the form of a book.

“The connection to the design festival is to look broadly at design in terms of how it connects to the way Sri Lankan contemporary artistes are working and how book design might be thought of as another form of exhibition making.

And if you are curating, issues that surround this festival are there. This is with regard to content, communicating with the pubic and supporting the creative industries.” Raking Leaves Director Sharmini Pereira said.

“Today the curator has become a key figure in the arts field invested with power, glamour and an oracular authority,” added Pereira