Moratuwa University sheds light on creative-based education in Sri Lanka. The University’s Integrated Design Department grooms students to become designers who could add value to the country’s growth.
The much anticipated ‘Sri Lanka Design Week 2018’ hosted by the Moratuwa University will get off the ground on August 7 and continue till August 12 at Arcade Independence Square, Colombo.
The second edition of this annual event of huge magnitude is presented by Design Code, the organizing body of the University’s Integrated Design Department. The initiative is a creative collaboration between the university and Leo Burnett Sri Lanka, Balmond Studios, the Lanka Association of Designers and Design Development Corporation.
Cargills (Ceylon) PLC is the platinum sponsor of the event, with Hirdaramani Group of Companies as the Gold sponsor, Antyra Solutions being the digital partner and Print Care serving as the official print partner.
The event plays a pivotal role in shaping past, present and future generations of Sri Lankan designers.
Veterans express their views
‘Sri Lanka Design Week 2018’ will celebrate interactions, integrations and innovations in creativity and design, amongst students, educators, practicing professionals and designers.
This event brings together personnel from Product Design, Fashion and Lifestyle Design and Media and Communication Design.
It provides a platform for students, graduates and industry’s best practitioners to showcase their works and design capabilities across a broad spectrum of design specializations.
At a press conference to announce the event, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka CEO, Arosh Perera said “We should focus on promoting Design in Sri Lanka with all its facets with a long term purpose of attracting new talent, raising the bar in quality of local output and exploring our future commercial potential”.
He further said, “Our country is very much manufacture centric and it is high time the world understood we are design oriented too. We must position ourselves as a design hub too thus a national level dialogue on this subject is needed.” He added, “Local industries should raise its standards as regards design. Industries should come together with the students for the latter to derive understanding on what is required for the future. Cargills, the fashion industry and communication sphere coming together for this event is a productive move”.
The program in a nutshell
The program will feature a compilation of mini-events around the theme of ‘Design in Sri Lanka’. The inauguration ceremony will have keynote address by the Co-Founder and CEO billion, Prasoon Kumar. The awarding ceremony in partnership with Cargills (Ceylon) PLC to identify young designers and innovators will follow. The four awards; Young Sri Lankan Designer Award, Young Global Designer Award, Young Sri Lankan Designer of the Year 2018 Award and the Most popular Design Award will be presented.
The official design exhibition will thereafter be opened. The exhibition will be opened to the public on each day until August 12 from 8.30am to 7.30pm. Workshops will be conducted from August 8 to 10. The exhibition space will include an interactive live studio space to instill the designer in you.
Along with the works of the university’s undergraduates, there will be an area dedicated to the appreciation and celebration of selected companies in Sri Lanka that have excelled in the local design industry. The ‘Design Research Conference 2018’ to be held on August 11 from 9.00am to 2.00pm at the Sports Ministry Auditorium is an international peer-reviewed conference focused on design research. The theme of the conference will revolve around the ‘Future of Integration in Design’ which will provide insight on several research papers by student presenters.
The ‘Design Forum’ will be held on the August 11 at 7 pm to 9 pm at the Sports Ministry Auditorium. The forum will be an in-depth panel discussion providing an opportunity for attendees to discuss industrial views, needs and expectations of design practice and design thinking.
Students’ participation
Students from the university’s Department of Integrated Design, who are part of a four-year Bachelor of Honours Degree program, will share their works and creative concepts at the event.
These students who are specializing in a wide variety of design disciplines are continuously focusing on merging creativity with functionality to create ‘signature designs’ that are unique and have an individual identity.
Design talks and workshops
A series of design talks and workshops will also be held over three days at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, highlighting the importance of design and how it integrates with other aspects of creativity. Nine reputed designers and academics from both the local and international industry will conduct talks and workshops related to specializing fields; Product Design (August 8), Media and Communication Design (August 9) and Fashion and Lifestyle Design (August10).
Thus, in a particular day three design talks and one workshop related to each field will be held. Potential participants for the talks, workshops, Design Forum, Research Conference may pre-register on www.designcode.lk in order to attend.
The ‘Creative Thinker’ workshops catering to school children, from selected Western Province schools will focus on nurturing young design minds on how to think ‘out-of-the-box. This event will take place on the August 12 at the Arcade Independence Square.
An ‘Interactive Live Studio Space’ will be dedicated to share skills acquired by students spread through the fields of Fashion and Lifestyle Design, Product Design, Media and Communication Design.
The Live studio activities taking place on the August 8, 9 and 10, at the Arcade Independence Square from 9.30am to 7.30pm and will be opened to public. A lifetime felicitation award will be awarded to Chandramani Thenuwara, an individual who has made a substantial contribution to the growth of design in our country.
Sri Lanka Design Week 2018 will conclude with an extravagant fashion show partnered with Hirdaramani Group of Companies on the August 12 at the Arcade Independence Square from 6.30pm onwards.
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