Alchemy: British Council Young Creative Entrepreneurs

Alchemy is an exhibition of new Indian and Sri Lankan talent in fashion and design, this display showcases recent winners of the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneurs Award, a programme that recognises excellence in creative entrepreneurship and encourages dialogue between young entrepreneurs in the UK and overseas. The work of these South Asian designers reflects their concern for traditional techniques and crafts whilst projecting cutting-edge design using sustainable methods of production and materials.

Designers include: Subhabrata Sadhu, a textile designer who designs and develops collections of pure contemporary pashmina by working closely with traditional weavers in Kashmir; Sarthak Sengupta, who provides design solutions and forms of innovation incorporating the belief that designing beautiful and functional products and spaces should be combined with efforts to preserve local traditions; and Kasuni Rathnasuriya, who started KUR, a Sri Lankan brand of contemporary sustainable womenswear that values unique crafts such as traditional beeralu lace and new approaches such as recycling and redesigning.