Stitchit design studio and academy is the brainchild of Niluka Wanigarathne who has been developing and delivering design courses for a number of years both in the public sector and now in the private sector. Her vision is to create an entrepreneurial approach to how design is conceived in Sri Lanka generating a new and innovative approach which fuses both the modern and classical. A graduate of t
he University of Moratuwa Design School, Niluka is creating a “space” which is both exciting and has a practical edge that will encourage the next wave of entrepreneurial designers and challenge how design has been practiced in recent years. She offers a diverse range of courses which cover Fashion Design and Business Start-Up allowing students to choose the path that suits their ambitions. The vision for the Design Studio is to incorporate galleries for design, art and photography as well as exhibition space to allow students to showcase their talents. Longer term the scope will encompass other cultural strands such as animation and visual communication media some of which is still being developed. The Academy intend to combine and merge theoretical knowledge along with practical applications which have drawn former colleagues at the university to participate in the project as lectures and as contributors to make this a unique programme for students who see their future in the cultural industries. The courses are a combination of a theory based approach in the Fashion Design programme and the more practical business start-up ASAP programme which generates an approach that allows the student to use the programme as the basis of starting their own business. This allows academics and business people to mentor and support students as their business grows while contributing to this exciting new project’s growth. The concept draws from “workspaces” in the US and the UK where students share their thoughts and their growing expertise with each other and their mentors in a collective and supportive environment. The Fashion Design Diploma is based at the Sri Lanka Foundation in Torrington Square and is offered through the Digital Film Academy which gives students access to networks that will enhance their knowledge and give them in insight into the workings of the film industry. So whether your individual thoughts are around designing for film or whether you wish to create the freedom in your lifestyle to begin to run your own business the Stitchit Design Studio and Academy will support your development through not just through the courses but on into your career. There are exciting plans already in place to expand the courses which will be available and at both the Design Studio and the Academy which in turn will entail an expansion of the space available to provide a cultural quarter that will be the envy of many in the industry as new graduates will meet with innovators in their fields in a lively, innovative and cutting-edge form of learning and educating the designers of the future.
