All About IV is a clothing brand that evolved out of the nooks and crannies of a colorful and brilliant mind. Each of the pieces in the collection reflects and personifies the personality of their maker. It also embodies the bubbly nature of the brand’s designer, Thilini De Silva quite vividly through the bright colors and daring textures incorporated in to her designs.
Even though Sri Lankan by nationality, Thilini spent a large portion of her life in the Middle East after her parents moved the family to Bahrain when she was very young. Although living in the Middle East meant dealing with many social and cultural restrictions, Thilini’s spirit of a wanderer wanted to explore new cities and travel the world. She was also adamant on studying abroad and finally spreading her wings. “Growing up there was so much that I wanted to do and achieve and my heart’s desire was to travel and see the world. The first step to a great journey began when my parents allowed me to move overseas for my studies.”
Her move was to the land down under and Thilini spent most of her twenties travelling the outback of Australia whenever she had a day off from college. A graduate accountant by qualification, Thilini however emphasizes on following your heart rather than going with the flow. “Accounting was the thing to do at the time and since I was young and had so much energy to sit through classes and exams it all worked out. But later I realized that keeping books may not be for me.”
During one of her holidays in Sri Lanka, Thilini met her Prince Charming, and it paved way for the start of a new chapter in her life. After spending a few years in the UK for work purposes, the young couple made plans to move to where he grew up in Italy. However destiny had other plans when an opportunity to open a restaurant in Colombo surfaced.
With many hopes and plans for the restaurant, the couple moved back to their island home and commenced operations. In between all of the chaos of running a restaurant, Thilini learned that she was pregnant and the turn of events presented her with a lot of free time. “I never planned for being a mom but mommyhood has been interesting so far. When life gives you opportunities like this, you need to take it. It’s about embracing all that life offers you”, states a woman who clearly enjoys her status as a mother.
“During the time I stayed at home because of the pregnancy, I started to create my own clothes as none of my old clothes fit me or was suitable for the weather in Sri Lanka. What started off as being something I did for myself soon turned into something family and friends wanted me to do for them.”
With time on her hands creative juices began to flow and with it evolved Thilini’s first collection. Since the brand was given birth to in the month of April this was the inspiration behind the name of the brand. “I wanted the brand name to make sense to me and be easy to remember but I thought IV as in the number would be too generic. Four signifies the fourth month which is April, it was when I conceived my child and it is also the time for change in our culture. So it embodies a lot of things.”
“Once I had done about 30 pieces, I decided to give this designing thing a shot. It all started with an online store and I was like if anything doesn’t sell I’ll at least have a new wardrobe!” Forget about leftovers, as Thilini’s first collection created so much interest that she was overwhelmed with the response.The doors that have opened up since then have been endless and one of them was at Design Collective.
“I knew Shahili through a mutual friend and he wanted us to meet. I met the girls and they had such an amazing vision and concept for the space and once the space came to life, I knew I had made the right decision”, she said reminiscing on the time when she first met the two masterminds behind Design Collective, Shahili and Binu.
“Everything I design for Design Collective is only for them so I try to think of ideas that are in line with their brand, something that would blend in perfectly but reflect my personality as well. The current collection at Design Collective is called All Checked Out. It’s all with plaid; it has blues and especially reds and greens to hold you up for the holiday season.”
The Design Collective aims to promote designers from Sri Lanka and South East Asia by providing a conceptually unique space in which designers can showcase their designs and interact with their clientele. It is located at what is becoming Colombo’s favourite “art street” at Stratford Avenue.
Written by Nishu Hassim