Sri Lanka master tailor conferred Golden Scissors at Asian forum

Chaandana Wijesekera

The Federation of Asian Master Tailors has recognised the work of a Sri Lankan master tailor, Chaandana Wijesekera, for his contributions to bespoke tailoring in the country as well as in the region and conferred a rare honour on him.

The industry organisation, which includes all major custom-tailoring association in Asia, conferred the Golden Scissor award on Wijesekera who heads Bristol Tailors, a family-owned old-established tailoring house in Sri Lanka.

Wijesekera was also given a life-time achievement award at the just concluded 26th congress of the federation during a five-day session at the Sunee Grand Hotel and Convention Centre in Ubon, Thailand.

The Sri Lanka Master Tailors’ Association received membership of the Asian Federation of Master tailors (AFMT) during the leadership of Wijesekera in 1998. Since then, Sri Lankan members have regularly attended annual sessions of the federation to share their experiences.

In 2013, Wijesekera secured Sri Lanka’s membership of the World Federation of Master Tailors too. He has also been a judge of annual tailoring competitions of the Federation. He has conducted lectures for students at the Vocational Training Authority of Sri Lanka.

At this year’s congress in Thailand, Sri Lanka was represented by Wijesekera as well as SLMTA President Lakshman Guruge (Pettah Tailors, Dalugama) and Treasurer Thikshana Udagedara (Linton Tailors, Kandy).