Cover B P de Silva's creative director, Shanya Amarasuriya
B P de Silva's creative director, Shanya Amarasuriya
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Fifth-generation jeweller Shanya Amarasuriya shares her passion and inspiration for creating
In this series, Tatler speaks to second-generation entrepreneurs about their business journeys. They share more about stepping out on their own, life lessons learnt through business and how they hope to keep their family legacy alive.
Looking back at one’s childhood, it’s typically filled with exciting memories of exploring, learning and growth. For creative director of B P de Silva’s Shanya Amarasuriya, it’s no different—the fifth-generation scion had her fair share of colourful childhood memories with friends and family.
On top of visiting the zoo, baking cookies and rollerblading at East Coast Park, some of Amarasuriya’s fondest childhood memories include taking trips to the family’s jewellery boutique and workshop with her father. During her trips there, she became fascinated with witnessing how 2D sketches would turn into reality.
Despite growing up in a family whose business has been passed down for generations, Amarasuriya had no pressures to join the B P de Silva. Quoting her second eldest brother Rehan, she says: “There was no pressure, but there was definitely an undercurrent. In hindsight, I believe all of us innately knew how happy it would make my dad for us to join the family business even though he has never explicitly said so.” While it was never her dream to take over, she always had a dream to create—something that has followed her since her days of visiting her father’s workshop.
Read more: The finest jewellers in Asia are creating showstopping adornments with immeasurable value
Above B P de Silva flagship boutique at Dempsey
B P de Silva flagship boutique at Dempsey
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Established in 1872, B P de Silva was founded by Balage Parolis de Silva who settled in Singapore and had set up his brand along High Street. Known as one of Singapore’s first luxury labels, the brand has been continuously creating timeless pieces. It’s also home to Singapore’s most expansive Natural Gem Library, allowing jewellers to work with fine and rare gemstones.
Amarasuriya’s interest in the company began early on when she was doing research into the luxury brand. Its history of valuing “slow and intentional creations and relationships” was something that spoke to her. “Whether it was during the time of the founder or today, there’s a soulfulness to the brand that showed me how jewellery could carry our stories and remind us of the beauty in life,” she says, adding that there is something intimate and poetic about designing jewels for her.
Creating connections
When it comes to creating, Amarasuriya is inspired by everything around her, especially “stories the heart wants to remember”.
As creative director, she continues to create bespoke pieces inspired by “design codes of our collections”—but adds her own modern twist. For example, the bespoke Old World Charm Diamond Necklace features a pendant with its brand’s signature hexagon silhouette and her client’s initials. It’s paired with an adjustable chain converting the piece into a wax seal.
She shares that the necklace was inspired by the “magic of human connection through the slow art of letter writing” between her and the client. “A couple years back, a client from our very first atelier along High Street reached out to me and requested a custom jewel for his wife through a letter,” she says, adding that they have become pen pals since. Human connections and letter writing has also been a part of the brand’s DNA since the beginning, which is something that’s also honoured in the bespoke piece.
When it comes to bespoke pieces, Amarasuriya’s ideas are limitless—whether it be through the character and stories of her clients, its extensive gemstone collection, or even through simple conversations.
Family bonds
When it comes to working with family, Amarasuriya describes her time as “exciting, challenging and meaningful”. Some of her most memorable experiences were discovering an artisanal Blue Sheen Moonstone mine on the south coast of Sri Lanka with her father, and admiring natural Royal and Cornflower blue Sapphires while on a gem-sourcing trip with her brother in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. She explains how she enjoys these times when she gets to bond with her family over shared passions and “learn from and through each other”.
Of course, working with family isn’t always smooth sailing. Amarasuriya explains that there are “passionate debates” within the family. Fortunately, her family and her are aligned in core values so debates are typically “around the ‘how’ and not in the ‘why’”. At the end of the day, they would always come to a shared decision. She continues: “[Our] values have seen us through the toughest of seasons and every generation of the brand has applied them uniquely to the times they were in.”
Whether it be creating jewellery or relationships with her loved ones and clients, Amarasuriya constantly looks for meaningful connections. Through these connections, she hopes B P de Silva is able to grow and “take on the world, in its own way”.
Looking back, she shares how the brand’s strong foundation of its core values have allowed them to come such a long way. “In this generation, the brand has definitely grown with focus and confidence, embracing its strength as a design house and independent luxury jewellery brand,” she muses.
The brand has just entered its fifth generation and Amarasuriya already has plenty of ideas to bring to life. For one, she hopes to use the brand as a platform to make a change, such as maintaining high standards for social and environmental performance through all its processes.
From creating a world-first East meets West partnership to #ChristmasAtBPdeSilva, exciting things are underway at B P de Silva and it’s no doubt that we will see Amarasuriya continue to make waves in the label and within the industry in the years to come.
Amanda Goh was the former senior writer for Tatler Singapore.
