OUR PEOPLE

We are committed at Urban Island to working towards a fair, decent, and balanced world.

At the heart of our work for this ideal live the artisans whose handcrafting skills have been passed down for generations.

Their handcraft is their way of life and their means of income.

For some, weaving is a meditation; for others, hand dyeing is a source of communal action and connection.

Samangalika and Shama had to give up farming to supplement their meagre and declining family income by collaborating with us as skilled candlemakers.

Soap maker Sunitha supports members of three generations in her family. Her colleague Rajanayake provides the income for her full household.

Their lives are now filled with pride and purpose.

Visit us on Instagram @urbanisland_official where you will meet our people, one story at a time.

 

OUR PLANET

We want our decisions to contribute to a better world.

We want our actions to conserve a good world.

A dedicated team trains our artisans to create their products using methods and materials that honour their traditions while observing a credo of sustainability in their process from recycling materials, to the reduction of waste, to minimal and efficient transportation methods.

The modern polyester yarns recently used by the weavers of Gampaha are now eschewed for the cotton yarn that was traditional.

We are proud of our natural dyes, our soaps and candles,  made from sustainable materials in the gardens and kitchens of skilled female artisans in small villages of Mandaram Nuwara.

Our Palmyrah products are completely sustained by nature’s cycle, the raw material harvested from the abundant fallen fronds in the North of Sri Lanka, then deftly transformed by local hands into striking design elements for the contemporary home.

 

Our highly skilled weaver Hiroshi said: "When I weave the fabric for a throw I almost feel the rhythm of the pattern in my entire body”The way you live is the way you give - and you feel it in all our products.