Monica de Lanerolle

Unique hand-made cards

by Surekha GALAGODA

Handmade cards each with its unique style and theme is what talented Monica de Lanerolle and her team of young girls make.

The little beads, braids, ribbon, raw material for each card is selected with much care and love. The designs are a gift from god as I am always inspired by him said the owner of Monica de Lanerolle Design, Wattala.

Once the raw materials are selected it is a matter of putting it together and it is a pleasure to see their nimble fingers at work. Their patience is unlimited and while each piece is pasted their eye for detail and focus keep them glued to the card they are making.

"I maintain quality at all times which makes a person buy a card as soon as he sees it."

A customer can select his own verse and we will print it for them. I have many cards and my dream is to get them to the market as soon as possible so that I could employ many more young girls while also outsource the work which will help many unemployed women to give the little luxuries to their children while working from home. This will allow them time to be with their children and attend to their household chores".

"We make a range of cards be it for new borns including twins, girl and boy cards, birthday cards, wedding cards, anniversary cards, Christmas cards and a host of other cards just for you.

Final products - personalised and unique

Monica supervises her designers Pix: Chinthaka Kumarasinghe

I am also starting to do wedding invitations which can be personalised to suit the theme and colour of the wedding", she said. Believe me the cards are amazing and I felt like buying the whole lot myself.

She said that she started by making cards for her friends and relatives. "About two years ago one of our friends, a US national visited us and was amazed by the cards I made. He bought the whole lot and said that it was very expensive in the USA.

I was happy to give him everything and get some money from which I bought more stuff such as good quality boards. This also gave me a moral boost since somebody had appreciated my cards apart from family and friends".

"My friend who is domiciled in HongKong sent some money as well as raw materials such as stones which encouraged me.

I have trained the staff so much that they can even improve my own designs now, but to bring them to this stage took quite a few months.

I also make gift tags. I hope to make gift boxes on a commercial scale.

My dream is to have a small factory with a lot of girls working. This will help me to give employment to a lot of people". Her unshaken faith in god has taken her through many difficult paths. Help from the strangest people have come her way. She said that once she had a stall at Crescat Boulevard where a lady walked up to her and said that she makes bags. I offered to sell them. She was Michelle Abeysundera, owner of Papyrus from where I buy my boards, Papyrus give's me credit, which is a blessing in disguise.

An old girl of Methodist College Monica's parents are Rev. Cyril Sahabandu and Pancy Jayawardena. Born as the only child she had been loved and cherished at all times. "I did art in school but was never exceptional". A year or two after leaving school she entered wedlock and explored the world after marriage as her husband just allowed her to do whatever she liked. She had worked at AMW and is also a qualified hair dresser who owned the chain 'A cut above' salon. She had got her training at Vidal Sassoon London and her contemporaries are Ramani Fernando and Harris Wijesinghe.A mother of two sons Mohan and Kirby she is very proud of them and their wives and her two grandchildren Sonya and Nathaniel. Her husband worked as a director at Akbars and they are a happy couple who share everything in life and that is the secret of their happy marriage, she said.