Plus

Plus

Exotic touch at Dwellings
By N. Dilshath Banu
Drawing the attention of passers-by with its vibrant window displays, Dwellings, the retail store specialising in home décor down Greenpath in Colombo 3 plans to hold an exotic exhibition and sale by two contemporary artistes this month.

This December is also special for the store as Dwellings celebrates its first anniversary. Within a year, the store has its own clientele and has achieved its goal of selling elegant home appliances, from furniture to lamp shades, cushions to beds, kitchen appliances to ornaments--in short anything and everything to give the four corners of your home that individual touch of class.

“Our main focus was on linen, because many find it difficult to get quality linen in Colombo. The co-partners of Dwellings and I, decided to do something to get down linen products. So, together with my friends in Pakistan, we planned to import linen products, especially from Pakistan incorporating them with many other home appliances and sell them at reasonable prices. That’s how Dwellings started,” said Renuza Jaleel, the Co - Director.

“Through these exhibitions, I’m focusing on promoting something people would not have seen so far and aim to offer those products to customers at a reasonable price,” says Renuza.

Ishan Mendis, a young interior designer, who does wonders with wrought iron, is one of the artistes who will display his work at the exhibition. “I had an interest in interior decor from my schooldays. Three years ago, I started to work on imported wrought iron as a hobby, and made lamp shades, furniture and candle-stands. I didn’t study interior designing at university, but learnt the craft through experience. I keep up with modern trends and design what would interest the people,” says Ishan.

A year and a half later, Ishan wanted to take his hobby a step further and launched into a professional career as an interior designer, experimenting with wrought iron. Now with a factory in Wadduwa, he instructs young designers.
Alefiya Akbarally’s forte is unusual mosaic art, using small pieces of glass, marble, ceramic or stone, to create images or patterns.

“My interest started in Spain, four years ago where I was inspired by Antonio Gaudi's mosaic architecture. I wanted to experiment with the art form in interior design as it is adaptable. I love to explore different colours,” says Alefiya, who has made coffee tables, picture frames and mirrors from mosaic art. For this exhibition, Alefiya is introducing new mosaic designs, experimenting with wood.

Ishan’s exhibits will be displayed today, from 10 a.m. onwards while Alefiya’s new range of mosaic styles will be on display on December 10 and 11.

Back to Plus