How we met

In the spring of 2022, I was backpacking with a friend through South-East Asia, and had just finished an organized trip around Sri Lanka. There we saw great nature, magnificent animals, incredible sunsets, beautiful mountains and lush forests. As we had a few days before our flight continued on our journey, we found a completely random little town called Hikkaduwa, in the south of Sri Lanka, and went there. The first night we walked around and explored the little place, we noticed a tall white building that stood out in the middle of all the restaurants and bars. Through the windows we could see many beautiful colors and different works of art.

When we walked through the glass door, we were greeted with a large room with dozens of paintings of all sizes, and a very nice guy behind the counter. He was exceptionally good in English (for being Sri Lankan) and it turned out that he and his brother together ran this gallery called "Saffron Robes Gallery".

We moved leisurely through, admiring the strong colors and motives as we moved up the never-ending floors. The man, Theekshana, answered all our questions and gave us the freedom to look around and pick out paintings.

After being inside the gallery for well over an hour, I decided to buy some paintings for my family back home in Norway. This went smoothly, and arrived in the mail fully intact after only two weeks. On the way out, I jokingly said that we should make a partnership and sell the beautiful and cheap art in Norway. He was immediately very interested, and was quick to give me his phone number. Since that time, we have kept in touch, and now have a nice collaboration going on.