Taprobane

Taprobane Island, Welligama, Sri Lanka

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The Island of Taprobane, off the south west coast of Sri Lanka, is a small rocky outcrop on which an exquisite garden was planted by the Count de Mauny-Talvande in the 18th century, Successive owners of the island have nurtured the gardens and I was commissioned to design a range of silks and cottons from the leaves and textures in the garden.

 
 
 
 

When it came to the promotion of the Taprobane textile collection, I devised a plan to wrap the island and garden with the fabrics and colours that it had inspired. We involved and paid the local community of Welligama to support the creation of the wrapped Island that came to symbolise the collection. I directed and produced the making of this final image over a 3 week period, working with many community groups, from fishermen to coconut harvesters to seamstresses and afterwards all fabrics were given to the villages along the coast.