Buddhi Batiks began in Sri Lanka in 1971 when Buddhi and Ranasiri Keerthisena started making batik together. Their early work grew from a shirt into a workshop and shop, with wall art and flags also appearing in the brand's history. A 2023 retrospective account describes their daughter Darshi continuing that work as creative director and chief executive.
Best for Sri Lankan batik with a family workshop history
Buddhi Batiks began almost by accident in 1971: Ranasiri Keerthisena wanted to surprise her journalist husband Buddhi with a batik shirt for his birthday, but the artist she approached fell through. Buddhi, an artist himself, suggested they make it together — and that single shirt became the genesis of the business, first run from a workshop behind their home with a shop out front.
Early tourist success led to invitations to exhibit in Europe, particularly Scandinavia and Germany, with the proceeds funding the business's expansion. Over a career spanning more than 40 years, Buddhi Keerthisena became one of the artisans credited with shaping the modern standard of Sri Lankan batik, helping establish it as part of the country's cultural identity.
His daughter Darshi Keerthisena, who holds a B.A. Hons in Fashion and Textile Design from Birmingham City University, took over the family business in 2005 and has continued developing its hand-drawn batik shirts, dresses, sarongs and accessories in contemporary designs. The brand maintains a public presence primarily through its Facebook page rather than a dedicated e-commerce site.
Caveman Redux began in 2019 with handcrafted herbal bath bombs created by Yasanga Senadeera and Nethmi Hewage. The business expanded into essential oils and hydrosols, plus aromatic diffusers and plant ingredients. These are product categories and parts of its founding story, not evidence of therapeutic benefits or a guarantee that every ingredient is grown in Sri Lanka.
Best for Bath products, essential oils and hydrosols
Caveman Redux was founded in 2019 in Colombo by Yasanga Senadeera, then a law student, and Nethmi Hewage, a chemical engineering student, who started the business as a small-batch project making handcrafted herbal bath bombs. The name fuses "Redux," meaning revival, with "Caveman," a nod to ancestral knowledge, summarized in the brand's own tagline, "Where Lifestyle Meets Nature." The founders built the company around reviving Sri Lankan and broader South Asian wellness traditions — drawing on Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and Buddhist practice — for a domestic market they judged underserved by genuinely natural, plant-based alternatives. Their catalogue grew from that first bath-bomb batch into steam-distilled essential oils, extracted from botanicals such as Boswellia sacra resin for frankincense oil and Cupressus leaves for cypress oil, alongside carrier oils, herbal powders, and skincare. Caveman Redux describes itself as an early mover in introducing aroma diffusers to the Sri Lankan market and in making hydrosols — the aromatic water co-produced during essential-oil distillation, often discarded elsewhere — available as a retail product in their own right. The shop ships island-wide and internationally from its Colombo 6 storefront, positioning itself less as a boutique gift shop than as a working link between traditional Sri Lankan plant knowledge and a contemporary wellness customer.
Handmade batik clothing in silk and cotton with floral artistry and beadwork, made by an all-women design team in Sri Lanka. Collections include Colombo Batik Luxury, Sari, Everyday and Studio lines.
Led by designer Lonali Rodrigo, House of Lonali is Sri Lanka's pioneering upcycling label, turning textile waste into clothing and accessories through zero-waste, circular methods. The studio pairs its own collections with design-and-manufacture services and reports recovering more than ten thousand kilos of fabric offcuts since 2019.
A fair-trade handloom store selling saris, clothing, accessories, toys, table linen, bed linen, and homeware made from handloom textiles. Sandra Wanduragala founded Selyn in 1991 with 15 women working from her home garage in Kurunegala.
Best for Fair-trade handloom saris, table linen, and homeware
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