South coast, Sri Lanka — Autumn 2026

Wood, worn close.

Hand-carved wooden jewellery from a small workshop in Hambantota, on Sri Lanka's southern coast. Bangles, rings, pendants and necklaces — each piece shaped from a single section of teak or mahogany, and finished to sit warmly on the skin.

See the jewellery
Teardrop Teak Bangle (Signature) — teak bangle with a teardrop profile
Hand-carved in Sri Lanka · Available now
01

Carved by a single hand

Every pendant, every bangle, is shaped and finished by one artisan. No two are identical — the grain decides.

02

Grown in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan teak, plantation-grown in the Hambantota dry zone, and Sri Lankan mahogany. Chosen by grain in the Beliatta workshop, then shaped by hand.

03

Finished for the skin

Skin-safe natural oils, hand-buffed. Light on the neck, warm on the wrist. Designed to be worn every day, not saved for occasions.

The Collection

Pieces for the wrist, the hand, the throat.

Shop jewellery

Prices in USD. Approximate EUR is labelled approx. US orders may owe import duties on arrival.

Sri Lanka has a long woodworking tradition. In the south, plantation-grown teak and mahogany take a dense, patient grain. Waaeco works those woods into jewellery meant to be worn every day — not saved for a cabinet.

The pieces we love most are the quiet ones. The pendant that catches the light on your walk to work. The bangle you forget you are wearing. The waxed cord that becomes the shape of your neck over years.

Why we exist.

Waaeco was founded by Wasantha Waduge — born and still based in Hambantota, on Sri Lanka's southern coast. Wasantha runs a small workshop in the same district, working with local artisans. The collection grows deliberately: hand-carved bangles, rings, pendants and necklaces, each made well, honestly, and made to last on the skin of a wearer.

The founder

Wasantha Waduge.

Born and based in Beliatta, Hambantota District, on Sri Lanka's southern coast. Trained as a goldsmith and silversmith, he now brings that jewellery-making hand to teak and mahogany at the Waaeco workshop.

Family from Galle. Workshop in Beliatta, Hambantota District.

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

“A wooden pendant should feel warmer than the collarbone it rests on. A wooden bangle should feel warmer than the wrist it circles.”

— From the workshop, Hambantota

Every piece begins as a rough section of teak or mahogany, 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 carved, drilled, sanded through progressively finer grits, and finished with a skin-safe natural oil. The whole process is unhurried. A single pendant can take the better part of a day. A bangle, sometimes longer, because a single-section turn has no room for a second attempt.

What you'll notice, over time.

The teak will deepen. Waxed cords soften. 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, on the shape of a wearer.

The Southern Province

Five places, one ground.

The workshop sits in Beliatta, Hambantota District, where dry-zone red earth and ancient granite meet the southern coast. These five places are the geography of the district — parks, towns, and rock temples nearby. They are not timber sources. The teak we use is plantation-grown in the Hambantota dry zone, then shaped in the workshop.

01

Yala National Park

Sri Lanka's oldest national park, in the same district as the workshop: dry-zone scrub, coastal lagoons, granite outcrops and leopard country. The park is a neighbour, not a timber source — no wood is cut there.

Road through Yala National Park
A road in Yala National Park
Wildlife in Yala National Park
02

Kataragama

An ancient pilgrimage town held sacred by Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Veddas. The shrine to Kanda-Murugan has drawn travellers from across the island for centuries.

The Kataragama Maha Devale shrine
Entrance to the Kataragama temple complex
The Maha Devale shrine in Kataragama
03

Tissamaharama

A city of reservoirs and stupas founded in the 3rd century BCE. The Tissa Wewa tank and Yatala Vehera stupa still command the flat, red-soil plains of the deep south.

Thissa Lake in Tissamaharama
Tissamaharama Rajamaha Viharaya stupa
Serene lakeside view in Tissamaharama
04

Mulgirigala Raja Maha Viharaya

A cliff monastery rising 205 metres above the coconut groves, with cave temples and inscriptions cut into Precambrian rock. One of the oldest image-houses in the south.

Bo tree at Mulkirigala Rock Temple
Paintings at Mulkirigala temple
Stone staircase at Mulkirigala Rock Temple
05

Sithulpawwa

A forest monastery founded in the 2nd century BCE, inside what is now Yala National Park. Monks carved living cells into granite, surrounded by scrub and leopard country.

The old stupa at Sithulpawwa
Sithulpawwa temple on the rock
Sithulpawwa temple from a distance

Every Waaeco piece is made in Beliatta, under the same southern sun and monsoon as these places — and from plantation teak grown in the Hambantota dry zone, not from the park.