Irangii De Silva Kalugampitiya

Today on the Buzz I feature someone who enjoys everything old and vintage, older the better. I have this crazy love for antiques and when we met we sure had some good conversations about it. Vintage Home Gallery Founder Irangii De Silva Kalugampitiya is an old girl of Ladies’ College, and she was awarded an honourary title Keerthi Shri Deshamanya, the second highest national title of Sri Lanka, at a ceremony held at the BMICH last Saturday. Her positive social impact by Vintage Home Gallery and directly contributing to the welfare of atleast 42 less fortunate families were taken into consideration amongst many other meritorious activities by the select committee when awarding the prestigious title. Today I speak to her on the Buzz.

What made you take up this business ?

I find myself to be someone who has great vision, and find that I am usually well ahead of my time in business. Having grown up in my mother’s house surrounded by antiques, I was introduced to old pieces at an early age.The great passion I had towards collecting antiques made me wonder, how it would be to share this with others who are like minded, but of course I wanted to be different. Almost out of curiosity I started a page on Social Media, just to ascertain what the response might be and to my utter surprise, the response was phenomenal. Thus was born, Vintage Home Gallery, the first ever antique store on a social media platform in Sri Lanka. This was six years ago, and today I have inspired hundreds of others to trade online, that helped them immensely specially during Covid lockdowns. The business has now grown to a retail space down Stratfrod Avenue on Gandhara street, 2 workshops alongside the digital and warehousing space.

What is the demand for antiques in Sri Lanka ?

The antique industry was a very well guarded niche market, if I am to say so. However, in the last three decades there has been a huge growth with many architects and designers taking a keen interest in recreating old architectural buildings, houses and furnishing them 

with old pieces. Till this time pieces from the South and Kandy were well known but 

with the end of the war, the Jaffna peninsula also became accessible, more travel and more business opportunities inevitably happened, creating a boom in Jaffna and Batticoloa antiques. During the war antique columns that were sold for Rs 50 per kg started selling for its real value helping builders and designers to recreate an old world charm that would have been otherwise forgotten and lost in history .

How can one pick out an original from a fake ?

This is a very tricky situation and most often people / buyers fall prey to a fake because the antique industry is a very vast one, with furniture, jewellery, pottery, brass, bronze and copperware. While identifying furniture is relatively easy, statues and some other artifacts are not that easily identifiabwwle unless one is an expert and has absolutely great knowledge. One can’t always be blamed for their inability to identify and tell apart real and fake as most fakes are manufactured to look near original, and only an expert or with a practiced eye can really tell the difference. The proportions of the furniture, the carvings on them, the patina and the workmanship are all attributes to closely scrutinise if one were to tell the two apart, which comes easily to an antique dealer or trader. Though this might be difficult for a first timer, with time and experience one can learn how to identify furniture, by studying or researching through books, visiting museums and galleries.

What sets you apart from others who have curated in the same area ?

Vintage Home Gallery is credited with opening the Sri Lanka antique market to the world out there; for the first ever time in the history of Sri Lanka, antiques were traded online on a social media platform. The concept was so new to the country and consumers that ‘Trust’ was of paramount importance. “What you see is exactly what you get” was the motto at Vintage Home Gallery.  I was in the business for the long haul, and it was very important that I sold genuine pieces, that were well restored and polished so that customers had confidence and faith in their purchases and of course in me. There were lots of ‘follow me’ sellers just after I started Vintage Home Gallery, who did not last long as they were all in it to make a quick buck.

Vintage Home Gallery is credited with opening the Sri Lanka antique market to the world out there. for the first ever time in the history of Sri Lanka, antiques were traded online on a social media platform.

What has been your favourite project to do ?

Working with some architects have been an immeasurable pleasure to me. Seeing those projects come alive has been an immense joy. There were some villas I furnished and to this date I have not even seen the client in person as we were always online, but she had complete trust and faith in me to deliver a quality product on time.
27 Suppliers islandwide work with you, how have you picked them and what do they bring to your store ? A supplier is a key stakeholder in this or any business for that matter. Their integrity and sincerity is very important to me. If you have great suppliers, one can acquire great pieces from Ebony and Calamander which are now really far and few between. When choosing suppliers it is crucial that they can cover many geographical areas though I specialise in Jaffna pieces.

Price points are very important, how do you mark it and what is the range we are looking at ?

Antiques vary from furniture, collectibles to jewellery, silverware, brass, copper, bronzes and pottery fetching all different prices in each of those segments. While I can confidently say that prices at Vintage Home Gallery are extremely competitive with market rates, sometime even below market rates. However high end pieces like Anglo Indian furniture, Dutch Furniture, and other very high end very old antiques made from Calamander and Ebony can fetch a very high price. Amongst antiques are also everyday pieces made from Jackwood, which usually fetch a relatively lower prices than those rare ones made from Ebony, King Ebony and Calamander etc.

What is your favourite era in history to recreate ? I do not like to think of reproductions as that confuses the clientele resulting in them even denying and questioning anything original I have for sale at the Vintage Home Gallery. However, if I were to dream of ever recreating anything that spectacular, it would certainly be Indo Portuguese and Dutch furniture.