Sri Lankan craftsmanship — Autumn 2026

Wood, worked slowly.

Wooden kitchenware and wooden jewelry, handcrafted by artisans in Sri Lanka's central highlands. Made to be lived with — at the table, and on the hand.

Explore the kitchenware

The Galle Plate — 9-inch handcrafted teak plate

Volume I · Kitchenware · Available now

Made slowly, by hand

Every piece is shaped, turned, and finished by a single artisan. No two are identical — the grain decides.

Grown responsibly

Teak from government-regulated forests in Sri Lanka's central highlands. Harvested by the tree, not by the hectare.

Finished for daily life

Food-safe natural sealants on the kitchenware. Skin-safe finishes on the jewelry. Designed to be used, not shelved.

Volume II · The Jewelry

The hand, at the throat.

See the jewelry

The same workshop that turns the plates has carved the first wooden jewelry pieces.

Three hand-carved pendants — crescent, ring, and teardrop — a turned teak bangle, and a copper-linked statement chain. Five pieces, made from the same teak and mahogany as the kitchenware. The collection is here.

Hand-carved wooden pendants on a burlap surface

The same wood, now worn on the hand.

Sri Lanka has cultivated a woodworking tradition for centuries. Its climate coaxes teak, mahogany and ebony into some of the finest hardwoods in the world — dense, patient, patterned by the seasons.

Skilled artisans still work these woods by hand, using techniques passed between generations: relief carving, intarsia, inlay. The results are prized far beyond the island — figurines, masks, boxes, bowls, furniture, instruments, jewelry. The objects we love most are the everyday ones. The plates that hold a meal. The bangle worn every day. The platter that marks a Sunday.

Why we exist.

Waaeco was founded by Wasantha Waduge — born in Hambantota, on Sri Lanka's southern coast. Wasantha works directly with a small workshop in the country's central highlands. The collection is deliberately small. Four kitchenware pieces to begin with. Five jewelry pieces to follow. Made well, made honestly, made to last.

Portrait — to follow

The founder

Wasantha Waduge.

Born and raised in Hambantota, on Sri Lanka's southern coast. Grew up in a family that knew hardship well, and built Waaeco piece by piece — with the same patience the wood asks of its makers.

Wasantha runs the workshop, chooses the wood, works with the artisans, and speaks for the pieces that leave Sri Lanka. Every order that arrives at your door has passed through his hands, in one way or another. If you have a question — about a piece, a custom order, a shipment, or the craft itself — write to him directly.

Write to Wasantha: waaeco@gmail.com
Call or WhatsApp: +94 71 240 4440 · Sri Lanka Standard Time
On Facebook: facebook.com/waaeco

— Wasantha, from the workshop

Every piece begins as a rough section of teak, allowed to dry naturally for months. The artisan reads the grain before the first cut — the pattern in the wood decides how the piece will be shaped.

From there, the piece is turned, carved, sanded through progressively finer grits, and finished with a food-safe natural sealant (for kitchenware) or a skin-safe oil (for jewelry). The whole process is unhurried. A single 12-inch platter can take the better part of a day. A pendant, sometimes longer.

What you'll notice, over time.

The teak will deepen. Small marks will accumulate. The piece you buy today will not look identical in a year — and it shouldn't. That is the object earning its place, at your table or on your hand.