Quirky cushions!

Spaces Founder Shevanthi Mahanama  -Pix by Lasantha Kumara

By Fathima Riznaz Hafi

Pillows and cushions have evolved from their original purpose of serving as objects we rest our heads on, to playing a significant role in home décor – enhancing a room and our mood by means of an artistic mix of colours and fabrics.

Branching out from this, Shevanthi Mahanama has come up with her own little business she calls ‘Spaces’ through which she approaches home décor in a fun way, adding a play of words and fonts to the mix. Shevanthi’s forte is her clever use of quirky quotes and witty words on her products, with the aim to amuse.

The inspiration came to her when she moved into her own place and found herself developing innovative ideas for home décor. “I got tired of the same boring cushions and thought I’d do something different. The internet and travelling have given me exposure to all sorts of inspiration to create new things but I add my own personal touch in all my pieces,” she said.  

Starting off by decorating her own home, she moved on to creating more for family and friends, which after a lot of positive feedback, led her to open her own business and she now provides a whole range of cushion and pillow covers as well as doormats with inspiring as well as amusing bilingual sayings. 

My favourites in her cushion cover range are ‘Just a girl boss building her empire’, ‘Home of a domestic goddess’, ‘Naps fix everything’, ‘You had me at Aiyo’, ‘Good morning gorgeous’ and ‘Hello there handsome’; while in the doormat range are ‘Hi Machang’, ‘Hope you brought whiskey’, ‘Baby’s Room – Please remove your shoes’ and ‘Shut the front door’.

“There’s one that says ‘That’s my spot’; couples fighting for their favourite spot on the couch was what I had in mind when I came up with this cushion. It’s a fun way to mark your spot. The ‘Mr. & Mrs.’ covers are also quite popular and I’ve had quite a lot of requests for those,” she said.

“These sorts of products are mainly available abroad and there’s a gap in the local market so I thought maybe I can be the one to start something; I want to provide this for other newly-wed couples as well, to add some quirkiness and some fun into their living room.”

“I’ve used the word ‘Spaces’ as my brand because it’s not just for your home – it could be for your workplace too – it can add some perk to your work spaces. I have customers who are running cafés and use my cushions to present a more welcoming and relaxing atmosphere. I’ve created items for kids’ rooms as well, with cute combinations of colour, fabric and words. So this word ‘Spaces’ could basically mean anything.”

Gift line

Spaces products are ideal housewarming gifts especially if you’re looking for something different and more along the lines of fun and perky. Shevanthi says it has been a huge gift-line and she had her hands full during Valentine’s, attending to personalised gift ideas. Requests came from hotels as well, where she created Valentine’s Day-themed décor pieces in their rooms. 

If customers require personalisation on existing products such as different cushion cover, pillowcase size, fabric or text colour she would be happy to oblige. “I give my customers the space to come up with their own idea failing which I give them the colour and font options and from there I send them sample artwork for their approval before sending everything out for production. My main print has been black on white or white on black and I tell customers we can change the fabric colour or font colour but everybody seems to like the black and whites. We can do anything to do with fabrics; I’ve been getting orders for napkins, aprons and so on – anything is possible and they all carry the same theme,” she added. 

With the Sinhala and Tamil New Year just around the corner, Shevanthi is all excited and has come up with cushion covers with lines like: ‘We go together like kavum & kokis’. Let’s look forward to more lines like this from her to add some fun to the upcoming celebrations!