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Mala Weerasekera

by Ilika Karunaratne

Since her childhood, furniture has been the centrepoint of Mala Weerasekera's world. Born into the family, which owned Don Carolis and Sons Ltd, which when it began, was the only major furniture company in the country. This company was subsequently as it passed to another generation, run by her father, which is how Mala's interest in furniture began and was nurtured through the years.

"My initial schooling was at Ladies College, but soon pressure from Buddhist relatives, who felt I should be at a Buddhist school, compelled my parents to send me to Visakha Vidyalya". Although Mala and I were at different schools, our friendship began in our schooldays and has continued through the years.

A common link later on, was that we both produced twin girls. "My main interests in my schooldays were tennis, swimming and girl guides and I recall getting prizes for art in school, too. I was in the first batch of girl guides who were sent abroad; we were sent to Sydney. This was a really traumatic time for me as my mother had just died; my father felt it would be good for me to be absorbed in activities which would take my mind off my irreplaceable loss, especially as it meant a change of scene with no nostalgic memories.

The girl guide motto 'Be Prepared' helped me then and has helped me throughout my life. Guiding has given me both strength and foresight to face any eventuality in life. Tennis has also remained an active interest in my life since my schooldays when I played in the public schools tournament and in the nationals".

When did Mala's interest in furniture begin? "My father took me with him to our factories and sales etc, so I had the advantage of learning from an expert. I learned about all the varieties of wood available here and the best ways of using them. I was always interested in colour and in interior decor, and did a course at the School for Interior Design in England for one year.

My interest inspired me to start doing research on my own on items of furniture which had originated here and were now in Britain. Some of these were in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and among them were pieces which had been made by Don Carolis's in the 1860s. I enjoy restoring furniture too, and have copied some of those I saw in The Victoria and Albert Museum. An interesting similarity was that they were all of mahogany and were inlaid. Even as far back as 1852, the Governor General of India, is quoted in a book as having recommended Ceylon for the best crafted ebony furniture. Another project I enjoyed tremendously was assisting a friend who was doing his thesis on Asian antique furniture".

Mala was MD of Don Carolis' for 31 years, and looks back on those as enthralling, exciting and rewarding years. She possesses absolute concern for quality... total attention to detail; creativity, style, an instinctive sense of the moment, and an inestimable gift of a photographic memory, which is of immense help in designing and restoring furniture. I wondered if there was any special aspect of her work that she enjoyed most.?

"I have always loved the traditional lines in furniture. I enjoyed doing the furniture for the Parliamentary complex and the Presidential Secretariat with Geoffrey Bawa when President Jayewardene was President. We restored and copied some exquisite pieces and President Jayewardene with his sense of history and appreciation of tradition and culture took a lot of interest in our work. I gained tremendous wealth in experience by these projects.' arguing with Goeffrey sometimes and then arriving at a compromise.

One instance I recall, is when he wanted the large table in the conference room at the Presidential Secretariat to be of a checkerboard design. I disagreed, cited President Jayewardene's age and eventually got Geoffrey to agree to my design, which was a table of 'paramara' with a border of ebony. When it was finished, it was much admired, and is one of the most elegant pieces we have ever produced. People like Goeffrey, were men of substance, who had so much to offer and a few minutes conversation with them was an education.

Other interesting projects we did were the Tower block of the Bank of Ceylon where we did all the furniture, and Mumtaz Mahal where we restored all the furniture. My job as MD included handling tenders and large contracts. Now, after retirement, I work on my own, restoring furniture, and helping craftsmen to revive old art and traditions in furniture".

In addition to furniture, Mala is one, who is passionately interested in an amazing assortment of things. "My husband's ancestral home is a 10 bedroomed house in Dambulla. We converted this into an orphanage in 1960 and called it The Peter Weerasekera Home, after my father-in-law. Today we have 49 girls from 7 to 14 in the home, have a nutrition center for abandoned, undernourished infants, a toddlers home for 30 children between 3 and 5, and a Montessori preschool as well.

We visit the Home regularly and my husband manages it. Several of our girls have achieved success; one of them is at the moment in the University of Bangalore, another went to Geneva as a home help, and married an Ethiopian who is a Manager at McDonalds. This is just one of the 'rags to riches' stories." It was no less a personality, than Mrs. J. R. Jayewardene, who first inspired me to visit this home and do some fund raising for it. She was the Chairperson of the management committee, visited the home regularly, and took an active interest in it, even while she was the wife of the President. It is rare for one in the top echelons of powers to devote time and energy to the underprivileged. "The Home is our pride and joy and we have won the award for the best managed Home more than once".

Mala is also a superb cook and gardener. Her garden is beautifully landscaped and designed.; with a profusion of foliage, trees, shrubs and flowers. She runs her home on oiled wheels and produces the best Mongolian barbecue in town, singlehanded. Her twin daughters are both married and live in England and five of her eight grandchildren live in England. She visits them regularly, and uses the opportunity to visit museums, famous old houses etc to have a look at antique furniture. Her two sons and families live here.

She has enjoyed venturing into the world of computers and technology with her grandson, and takes advantage of internet for ideas for restoration and does research on furniture too on the web. "It is fun becoming computer literate now and certainly adds something to the lustre of life" She has endeavoured to pass on her expertise in the culinary arts too, when she was in Inner Wheel by having cookery demonstrations at a community center, and was often asked at that time to do this professionally.

"We have started cookery demonstrations at the Dambulla home now, it also gives us a great sense of satisfaction to equip our girls at the home for life, by giving them vocational training in various spheres and getting them to help to grow vegetables and fruit for their consumption".

Mala has had the courage to venture into a new and innovative approach to furniture with visionary ideas. She has learned to develop and project her own style, but remained in some indefinable way, herself; instantly recognizable, but never predictable.

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