Trends TrendsIf you’re a fan of batik, then you’re prob-

ably familiar with Buddhi Batiks - the company that brought a modern twist to a traditional art. Buddhi Batiks has been in busi-ness since the 1970 s- founded by Buddhi and Ranasiri Keerthisena.

It’s still very much a family affair - current di-rector Darshi Keerthisena grew up playing in the batik workshop in which her parents first made their colourful creations. Now she continues the legacy passed on to her, with elegant collections that are of-ten spotted both on the runway circuit and off.

Buddhi Batiks is inspired by colour, due to the brightly hued flora and fauna endemic to this country, Darshi says, not to mention the richness of culture that Sri Lanka has. In addition, batik is a versatile medium, with a limitless colour palette. Every piece in Buddhi Batiks is hand-dyed. The colours therefore usually vary from piece to piece, so that each item is unique, often featuring striking combinations - a rich, dark purple interspersed with an aqua blue, for instance, or a bright, butter yellow edged with black. The end re-sults are youthful, exuberant and of course, chic. The Buddhi Batik designs often seem to incorporate flo-

ral patterns as well. It’s a perfect fuse of East and West - and often, the perfect thing to wear for a cocktail party or a wedding.

The shop’s standout pieces tend to be the sarees. “The designer batik sari is a must have in every woman’s wardrobe, and we are proud to have popularized it,” Darshi said. Graceful, light and eye-catching, the Buddhi Batik sarees are easily rec-ognizable. But this store is about more than sarees - swimwear and dresses are very popular too, as are T-shirts, tops and batik accessories.

Darshi herself says that it is dif-ficult to pick a favourite piece from her creations, although she is partial to a batik bridal sari and bridesmaid outfits she created for the wed-ding of Dr. Ishani. “We put our heart and soul into every piece,” she explains, and this definitely shows in the end results.

As exuberant and playful as Buddhi Batik’s designs are, there is a lot of hard work that goes into them. “We do a lot of research and development, and we keep ourselves up-dated through travel, maga-zines and the Internet,” Darshi says. She adds that the company also spends considerable time and ef-fort to develop their own trends, describing this step as a very important part of the design pro-cess.

Buddhi Batiks is located right next to Coco Veranda at Ward Place - make sure

to stop in there if you want to stock up on high quality evening wear.

Twist

By Raisa WickrematungeBatikWithA