Ruwanthi Gajadeera (
Sinhala: රුවන්ති පවිත්රා ගජධීර,
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
: ருவந்தி பவித்ரா கஜதீர; born 20 August 1996) is a
Sri Lankan sustainable fashion and textile designer.
She is the first
South Asian
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...
fashion designer to win the
Taiwan Fashion Design Awards at 2021
Taipei Fashion Week SS22.
She has also represented Sri Lanka in a variety of other international competitions such as Redress Design Awards 2021,
Hong Kong,
International Baltic Ethnic Fashion Festival 2021,
Saint Petersburg and
Graduate Fashion Week 2021,
London.
Through her designs, she attempts to communicate the importance of the
slow fashion
Slow fashion is an aspect of sustainable fashion and a concept describing the opposite to fast fashion, part of the " slow movement" advocating for clothing and apparel manufacturing in respect to people, environment and animals. As such, contrary ...
movement.
She approached her
aesthetic
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...
from the perspective by incorporating
generational qualities of fashion and
Buddhist philosophies.
Ruwanthi's garments have showcased a combination of
heritage crafts
Heritage Crafts is a registered United Kingdom charity (registered as The Heritage Crafts Association) set up to support and promote traditional crafts. It has been operating under the name Heritage Crafts since October 2021.
The charity was la ...
and
high-tech techniques that express
3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) in the complete garment
lifecycle
Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to:
Science and academia
* Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring
*Life-cycle hypothesis ...
.
She states that to create
circular garments, she employs
zero-waste
Zero waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal of this movement is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, or the ocean. Curren ...
,
up-cycling,
reconstruction techniques.
Early life and education
Ruwanthi was born in
Colombo to a Buddhist family.
Ruwanthi spent her early childhood in
Padiyathalawa
Padiyathalawa is a small town in Ampara District
Ampara District ( ta, அம்பாறை மாவட்டம், translit=Ampāṟai Māvaṭṭam; si, අම්පාර දිස්ත්රික්කය, translit=Ampāra Distrikkaya ...
, a town in
Amapara.
Later on, she moved to Colombo and studied at
Ladies' College, Colombo.
Upon completing her primary education she entered the
University of Moratuwa
(''Vidyaayev Sharvadhanam'')
, motto_lang = Sanskrit
, mottoeng = Wisdom is all Wealth
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = K. K. Y. W. Perera
, vice_chancellor = N. ...
to study
landscape architecture
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...
,
but later she became more interested in fashion and textile design.
She dropped out of the University of Moratuwa and pursued her career in fashion design.
Awards
* Fashion Design Newcomer Award - Taiwan Fashion Design Awards (2021).
* First Prize in Eco Fashion - International Baltic Ethnic Fashion Festival (2021).
* First Runner-Up - International Catwalk Award at Graduate Fashion Week (2021).
* Semi-finalist - Redress Design Award (2021).
[Redress (2021-04-22). "REDRESS DESIGN AWARD 2021 SEMI-FINALISTS ANNOUNCED, SUPPORTING EMERGING SUSTAINABLE FASHION TALENT FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE". Available online: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/582d0d16440243165eb756db/t/608147a6f9f3065a214c2dc5/1619085222884/ENG+Semi-finalists+press+release.pdf. Retrieved 2021-11-06.]
References
Sri Lankan fashion designers
Sri Lankan women fashion designers
1996 births
People from Colombo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gajadeera, Ruwanthi
Living people
Sri Lankan environmentalists
Sustainability advocates