Urban.lk is a fully Sri Lankan eCommerce web that offers customers an unparalleled online shopping experience at their fingertips. Urban.lk recently launched their new space ‘Gallery’, featuring on-sale local art from local artists and photographers the likes of Sachi Ediriweera, Nelluma, Nudleface, Dillon Photography, Ranmith Welikala and more. Launched with the hashtag #supportlocalartists, Urban.lk will display these artworks free-of-charge and handle all logistics of marketing, framing and delivering upon purchase by a customer. For more on the Gallery, we speak to the Co-Founder of Urban.lk, Kalana Muthumuni.

What is Urban.lk?
Urban.lk is a Premium Online Store in Sri Lanka that provides the consumers 100% authentic products with on-time delivery coupled together with unparalleled customer service. We are one of the best rated online stores in the country and John Keells Holdings has come on board as a shareholder as well. We started back in 2016 and
since our inception we’ve been on a constant path to revolutionize the e-commerce experience in the country.

Your latest addition is ‘Gallery’ – what is it?
The ‘Gallery’ is a space where art lovers have the opportunity to discover the many talented Sri Lankan artists and their works.  Our founder and CEO, Malinda Muthumuni and shareholder Danushka Gunawardena came up with this idea, as they were thinking of avenues to help local businesses during the pandemic. We are simply a bridge that connects the artists and aesthetes together in an environment that encourages people to discover the local talent within the country and hopefully take home a meaningful piece of art that adds value to their home. The collaborating artists can exhibit and subsequently commercialize their work easily without worrying about the logistics, as upon purchase, we mount the art on to a high-quality frame and safely deliver it to the customer.

What is the gap in the market that the ‘Gallery’ is catering to?
Our country is filled to the brim with unrelenting talent that is waiting to be discovered. We saw a gap that needed to be closed by creating a platform where local Artists and Photographers have the opportunity to exhibit their work and the Sri Lankan consumers have access to these brilliant works of art. With this platform, the artists can focus on creating masterpieces while letting us handle all the logistics from the marketing and printing to the framing and the delivery.

What is the convenience of using Gallery to purchase the artwork as opposed to the other options in the market?  
Since the Gallery is an online platform, we can showcase a much wider collection of products to the customers. We can target and market these products directly to the customers who are interested in them. This way we can get a higher number of sales for the local artists, without them having to spend their time on the marketing or logistics. From the comfort of their home, they can sell their work.

What kind of artwork do you currently feature?
We have several aspiring local artists whose framed digital art or photographs can be purchased through our website. We also have the works of the local legend, Sachi Ediriweera available for purchase.

How important is it to support the local artists and the local art industry?
Platforms like these create fair opportunities for Artists who are often left undiscovered. Our culture is rich and historically our people have always been drawn to art in many different forms. With changing times, the style of creating many have changed, but the love for it is still the same.

What’s next in development for the Gallery?
The next step for the platform is to carry canvas paintings. We will be adding these in the coming weeks. We also plan to provide the artist with the ability to reach international audiences through the platform.