Iconic designer Barbara Sansoni passes away

The iconic designer, author and artist Barbara Sansoni has passed away at the age of 94.

She was best known for founding ‘Barefoot’, a textile design company of rural handweavers in Sri Lanka exporting clothing and soft furnishings globally. The company’s flagship store in Colombo was opened in the early 1970s.

Born in Kandy and educated in Ceylon and southern India, Sansoni was a painter and writer and was passionate about architecture. She also has several publications to her name, including ‘Viharas and Verandahs’ (1978) and ‘Architecture of an Island’ (1998).

In 2002, she published her first children’s book titled ‘Miss Fu and Tikkiri Banda’.

Sansoni had exhibited her textile designs, handwoven panels, drawings and paintings at numerous exhibitions in Asia, Europe and North America.

She held her first one-woman exhibition in London in 1966 and continued to exhibit regularly.