Living designs

Text and pictures - Ishara Jayawardane

Interior Designer Swarna Obeyesekere who has been running her school of Interior Design - the Swarna Obeyesekere Interior Design Centre - since its inception in 1973 has introduced a new curriculum to her School of Interior Design changing its name to Swarnashastra Institute of Design.

“This new syllabus with my experience, I have developed in a more practical sense. In my professional capacity as an interior designer, my efforts had been to provide education and to advance the field of interior design and the related industry. My interest and thoughts moved towards developing spaces to make people behavior patterns impressive and meaningful. I have also emphasized on the importance of natural flowers and foliage in arrangement to add a feeling of life, care and good living in every room,” Swarna Obeyesekere said.

Swarna’s philosophy revolves around four tenets - that beautiful environments make beautiful people, design is a significant element in the process of development for good living - blending technology and art, outdoors gives extended space beneficial for relaxation and healthy living and the home in which people spend a majority of their time is the test of a civilized nation.

The curriculum is on interior design. It will focus upon employability skills in the field. Obeyesekere pointed out that there are so many openings in the interior furnishing industry: the suppliers of furnishers, furnishing fabrics, lighting, decorative accessories, flooring and interior finishers. So many things come into making the interior of a building.

“I find that in the industry at present, although they are recruiting staff, most of them do not have the basic knowledge of what interior design is. We find as interior design consultants, that if we get engaged in a project in addition to the preparation of the design we have to coordinate the implementation of it. So when we have to purchase materials and instruct the industry to set the place according to our design it becomes difficult if they don’t understand the reading of the design,” Obeyesekere further added

Obeyesekere also stated that people who are working in furnishing companies should have an idea of what interior design is; knowledge of the aspects of interior design – a basic foundation consisting of the objectives of interior design.

The course consists of a four month foundation course up to one year, continuing to a certificate course followed by the second year, a diploma course going to a third year with a higher diploma and fourth year degree program. It will be a complete program and one could do it in stages.

“I will be starting the course with an orientation program on July 9 along with the registrations. The course also emphasizes on the living environment both indoors as well as outdoors. Space is expensive, we cannot waste the outdoors. So therefore when we are planning, we have to consider that indoor space as well as outdoor space is important for our living” explained Obeyesekere

Obeyesekere also stressed that garden space is very important to one’s health and a comfortable living. We need the facilities outside such as light, the air and even the smell of the outside such as flowers and the sound of birds and water. We can use the outdoors for various activities - reading and relaxation, painting and sculpture making. There are so many things in nature that are important to our living patterns.

Therefore, having outdoor space and admiring what is there in the outdoors should be part of our living. When you are creating a design for living, both indoor and outdoor facilities are important.

“The young people these days are looking for jobs in the computer sector, the accounting sector and even marketing. Now those sectors are getting crowded. There are so many sectors we can get involved in. We are also destroying the natural environment, so we must focus on the importance of the natural environment,” Obeyesekere added.