STATE OF PLAY

Berlin-based Sri Lankan designer Amesh Wijesekera believes in the power of emotional design and draws inspiration from the late Lionel Wendt’s evocative imagery. AKANKSHA KAMATH charts their tangential relationship.

- AKANKSHA KAMATH

WHEN I TALK to Amesh Wijesekera, he is in Berlin, in the sanctuary of his home that he shares with his partner. Yet his heart, thoughts, and emotions are tightly wound around his home country many miles away—the teardrop island of Sri Lanka.

It's been a roller coaster few months for the designer who, just a few weeks ago, was in Paris living a dreamscape reality as a semi-finalist for the LVMH Prize 2022.

Past winners of the €300,000 prize for emerging talent have included bright sparks like Simon Porte Jacquemus, Grace Wales Bonner and Thebe Magugu. The collection showcase at Avenue Montaigne in March, was distinguished by the juxtaposition of its prints, colours and competing textures that subtly connect and peaceably, beautifully coexist. Shot and made by the designer amid 16-hour power cuts in a bleeding paradise island undergoing its worst economic downturn yet, the collection remains an ode to it.

As an ascendent designer from the subcontinent with a platform that pulls а weight beyond borders, Wijesekera is aware of his unique position of privilege.

FAMILY AFFAIR

Wijesekera, who moonlights as the head chef at a popular Sri Lankan restaurant in Berlin, draws inspiration from the depiction of boys and men in Wendt’s striking portraiture

He uses its responsibility intentionally and knowingly to traffic in truth and create a beautiful, intoxicating reality. Serendepitously, the 28-year-old designer created his label in 2019, as a refuge for fellow members of the queer community who, like him, are using fashion as a tool for self-discovery.