Sri Lanka’s most impactful craft initiative this year may not have stemmed from a conventional trade fair, export showcase, or governmental efforts. Recently, Miss World Sri Lanka, Prathibha Liyanarachchi, a technical designer and graduate from the University of Moratuwa, has successfully showcased a uniquely Sri Lankan aesthetic on the global stage. While the impact of this exposure is difficult to quantify, it underscores the potential of heritage to evolve into a contemporary and relevant force. If provided with the right opportunities and platforms, numerous young creatives could be engaged in similar endeavors.
This context makes the Government’s renewed focus on handloom particularly timely. At a recent gathering titled “The Art of Weaving,” the Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development reframed handloom as an “industry of the future,” rather than a waning heritage sector. He advocated for the development of diverse product categories beyond traditional sarees and set an ambitious export target of over USD 100 million.
While this direction is promising, it raises a critical question: after years of preservation efforts, what transformations are truly necessary? According to Selyna Peiris and Robert Meeder, co-founders of The Institute for Future Creations (TIFC), the answer lies within Sri Lanka’s creative economy. Although the term has circulated widely, it risks becoming an ambiguous buzzword—broad enough for general endorsement but lacking specific ownership. Five years following Sri Lanka’s role in sponsoring a UN resolution on the creative economy, the challenge remains to define its economic implications.
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“Craft provides a tangible foundation for building that economy,” Peiris states. “We already have artisans, materials, knowledge, and businesses that are operational. The key is to shift our perception of these entities from merely beneficiaries of preservation programs to integral components of a dynamic productive economy.”
Various craft traditions, including handloom, batik, jewelry, ceramics, woodwork, and fiber arts, hold the potential to generate jobs, foster intellectual property, drive innovation, and enhance exports. However, this will not occur if development is viewed solely as a means of increasing output. As Meeder emphasizes, “The solution isn’t merely about adding more handloom stations or looms. It’s about linking our existing capabilities to markets and partners willing to pay fair prices for superior products.”
This perspective influenced the groundwork for Creative Sri Lanka 2030, a project developed in collaboration with the Export Development Board (EDB) and later supported by a European Union-led matchmaking initiative. Rather than stopping at skill training, the program mentored six Sri Lankan brands, connecting them with international designers and securing export deals in countries such as Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and the UK. The EDB is now expanding this model to connect established exporters with 40 to 50 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), artisans, and designers.
The Chamber of Ethical Lifestyle Enterprises (CELE) emerged from the partnerships established through this initiative, uniting businesses that recognized the need for collaboration to address shared challenges. This represents a new type of industry chamber that assists enterprises in navigating international markets, sustainability requirements, technological advancements, and collaborative efforts.
A small business often struggles to manage production, regulatory compliance, participation in trade fairs, designer and buyer outreach, and maintaining international networks simultaneously. A thriving creative economy necessitates shared infrastructure, and organizations like CELE can facilitate connections among entrepreneurs, government entities, knowledge partners, and markets.
This infrastructure is particularly crucial as international markets evolve. The emerging Digital Product Passport framework in Europe will demand increased product information and traceability. For large exporters, this necessitates investment; however, for resource-constrained micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the implications could be more severe. If compliance becomes increasingly expensive while craft remains associated with low-value souvenir-type products, smaller producers may find themselves further marginalized in export markets. The solution involves not just compliance but also enhancing product value.
“Being small does not equate to being low value,” Peiris asserts. “A craft enterprise doesn’t need to transform into a factory. It requires design, technology, market insights, and partnerships that elevate its products’ worth while ensuring that the benefits reach the artisans and communities involved.”
This also calls for a reevaluation of creative education. Sri Lanka does not necessarily require more design graduates who assume success means establishing yet another fashion label. Instead, the focus should be on cultivating hybrid creative product designers and innovators capable of navigating between weaving communities, manufacturers, new materials, informal craft value chains, and international markets. Such individuals already exist, but what is lacking is an ecosystem that acknowledges, supports, and provides them with worthwhile industries to transform.
Furthermore, Europe should not be viewed as the only potential market. India presents a vast neighboring resource of craft knowledge, materials, designers, technology, and an increasingly discerning consumer base. Strengthening exchanges between Indian and Sri Lankan experts could leverage geographic proximity into a competitive advantage, fostering regional knowledge and commercial ties rather than instinctively looking westward for every market and solution.
There are also more innovative possibilities surrounding regenerative materials, sustainable agriculture, traceability, and the reconnection of land with production. Historically, Sri Lanka had more interconnected local fiber and handloom systems, including cotton cultivation. Contemporary experiments suggest how these relationships might be reimagined—not through nostalgia but via design, technology, green investments, and higher-value production.
TIFC is exploring interventions with partners at these intersections, examining how materials, artisans, designers, technology, and markets can be interconnected from the outset. For Meeder, the pursuit of another “sleeping giant” in Sri Lanka’s economy may be a misguided approach. “I don’t believe there is a singular giant sector waiting to be discovered. We possess hundreds of capabilities, materials, businesses, and knowledge systems. We must identify effective strategies, cease repeating unsuccessful methods, and provide substantial support for initiatives that can generate genuine value.”
This perspective may be the best interpretation of the Minister’s ambitious USD 100 million handloom goal. The focus should not solely be on increasing production, designers, or projects, but on enhancing the quality of products, strengthening businesses, nurturing hybrid creative talent, making smarter investments, and engaging markets willing to invest in Sri Lankan creativity and originality.
Sri Lanka has spent considerable time articulating its vision for a creative economy. Craft offers a clear entry point for building this economy, not merely as a heritage to be preserved from change, but as a source of knowledge capable of generating economic value. The nation has demonstrated its ability to produce exceptional goods. The next step involves claiming a larger share of the ideas, materials, intellectual property, and value associated with its creations. This shift is essential for transforming the concept of a creative economy into a tangible reality.
