Dilanjan Seneviratne and Asanka de Mel Share Global Reach, Local Roots at Sri Lanka Design Festival 2024

9 November 2024, 2:00pm to 2:45pm | Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams, Colombo | the makers of LOVI Ceylon and Yohani in conversation

On 9 November 2024, Dilanjan Seneviratne and Asanka de Mel took the stage at Sri Lanka Design Festival 2024 for Global Reach, Local Roots: Lessons from the Makers of LOVI and Yohani Brands. The 45-minute session ran from 2:00pm at Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams, Colombo.

The festival ran from 7 to 10 November 2024, alongside Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Sri Lanka, at the same venue.

The session paired two brand builders with a shared history. Asanka de Mel founded the fashion label LOVI Ceylon, and Yohani became a LOVI Ceylon brand ambassador in August 2023.

The session's title set the question: how Sri Lankan brands travel without losing their roots. Weeks earlier, in October 2024, Yohani's debut album Kella, a record built on Sri Lankan sounds and creatively produced by Dilanjan, had been submitted for consideration in Best Global Music Album at the 67th Grammy Awards.