Dilini Halvitigala School of Interior Design holds second certificate awarding ceremony

• Initiates new venture, Dilini Halvitigala Events 

Having successfully produced six batches, the Dilini Halvitigala School of Interior Design held its second certificate awarding ceremony for 50 students of the third to sixth batches on 3 December at the Kadirgamar Centre, Colombo 7. 

The ceremony was extremely colourful with the Chief Guest being Dr. U. Anura Kumara, Dean of Management Studies and Commerce of University of Sri Jayewardenepura and the Guests of Honour Member of Parliament, former Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardhana, former Minister Jeewan Kumaratunga and Shereen Kumaratunga. Special invitees included Film Director Sunil T. Fernando and actresses Semini Iddamalgoda and Nadeeka Gunasekara, along with the students and their parents.

At the certificate awarding ceremony, Dr. Dilini Halvitigala also initiated her new venture, Dilini Halvitigala Events. This new venture of event management is an approach to provide the outgoing students with an opportunity to display their talents and gather a unique experience by working with a professional in the industry. 

They also launched official website, to showcase the creations of the decorators and to also promote them as professionals. The website will amalgamate all ventures under ‘Dilini Halvititgala’ and will showcase all work done nationally and internationally under the ‘Interior Designer’ category. 

The Dilini Halvititgala School of Interior Design will contain all details about the school, past students and contacts of professional interior decorators located anywhere in the country. This will be a unique opportunity provided to the past students of the school. Under the Dilini Halvitigala Events all details regarding events management will be provided for its clients’ convenience. The School also has its society, The Dilini Halvitigala Society of Interior Decorators, which is the first of its kind, carrying out CSR projects and welfare projects for society whilst providing experience and practical knowledge to the past students.

During the ceremony as an active Director of Lions Club of Maharagama Golden City, District 306 C2 Dr. Dilini Halvitigala gave 15 100% scholarships from the Dilini Halvitigala School of Interior Design to Abeygunawardhana and Kumaratunga to be donated to the underprivileged.

She took the opportunity to present appreciation awards to all printed and electronic media that helped her throughout her career. Amongst those awards she presented Special Appreciation Awards to Manoj Dissanayaka for introducing her to the media and Puja Suraweera as Best Employee of the Year. She also appreciated her family, P.D. Chandraratne, her father, and Sujeewa Chandraratne, her mother, for being the pillars of her success, Dinuka Chandraratne, her brother, Charithri Chandraratne, her sister-in-law, Malika Wijayasinghe, her grandmother, for unconditional support, and her daughter Tiyara Halvitigala for being her vision and dream for success. 

The Dilini Halvitigala School of Interior Design is the first school in the country to offer a Government approved professional certificate course on interior decoration. This has opened up opportunities for students from school leavers to housewives, professionals, part-time jobseekers, those who seek self-employment and those in the same field who wish to get a professional qualification. 

The school makes it a priority to change the perspective of the country on interior design as a foreign subject. Dilini’s mission for the longest time has been to create awareness of what an Interior designer is and why they should be hired. The role of an interior designer is commonly mistaken as part of architecture and as result client may be not achieve the desired result and in most cases the spaces may not be utilised practically and efficiently. 

Interior design isn’t just about home decoration. It is concerned with creating functional and beautiful interior spaces in all sorts of places including houses, public buildings and commercial properties such as shops, restaurants, leisure venues and offices. Interior design can also be applied to temporary environments, whether that’s pop-up shops that are in existence for just a few months at a time, or show homes and exhibition stands that may simply last days. Anything that has an interior can be designed, redesigned or refurbished.

Before Dilini Halvitigala School of Interior Design was founded in January 2013, Dilini set out on a journey to educate the public via various media channels by appearing on talk shows and through her articles on various newspapers and conducting numerous seminars across Sri Lanka, where she elaborated on the importance of interior design and provided the public with valuable information related to interior design.

Unfortunately completing a degree in Interior Design is not an easy task, it requires a long time of three years to complete it. This was the birth of Dilini Halvitigala School of Interior Design. The fact that even if a person wanted to know interior design they couldn’t waste time or money on the course created the core of the Dilini Halvitigala School of Interior Design; the school educates students about interior decoration in the span of just three months. The key mission is to create awareness of interior decoration and how it applies to your life. It focuses on those who are interested to learn about it without having to go through a three-year commitment. 

The course touches on important topics related to decoration such as elements of design, various types of concepts and how is it connected to other elements such as colours or furniture. It also goes on to touch on the importance of lighting and how best to light rooms according to requirements. As simple as it all sounds decoration is a complex subject that is made up of principals and elements that have a direct relationship with human interaction and emotions.     

In order to design a well-balanced space it is important to understand these factors and learn you use them appropriately which is exactly what you will learn at the Dilini Halvitigala School of Interior Design. 

The course is structured to cover interior decoration hence it is not set to be as complex as interior design. Students who enrol for this program will have to attend one lecture per week for the duration of the course during which they will be tested through various forms of assignments, presentations followed by a main exam at the end of the course. Each of these test are carefully designed so the student makes the most out of the course. It also promises to be fun and interactive, and really bring out the ‘fun’ aspect of decoration. What’s more, on completion of the course the students are awarded with a Government certified academic qualification.

Dr. Dilini Halvitigala hopes to spread the knowledge that she has acquired over 13 years and to redefine the boundaries of design and to bring colours to life.