Shopping · 22 of the best in Sri Lanka
Barefoot
Handwoven colour
About Barefoot
The artist Barbara Sansoni’s handloom company is famous for its brilliantly coloured cottons. Here is the story behind it, and what to buy.
Barbara Sansoni
Barefoot was founded in 1958 by the artist Barbara Sansoni (1928–2022), born in Kandy. It began as a programme at a convent in Wattala, teaching young women to weave, with the aim of giving rural women weavers a livelihood. Sansoni translated her paintings into geometric designs on the loom, and she is said to have redefined the idea of colour in Sri Lanka.
From loom to boutique
She opened the Barefoot boutique in Colombo in 1964, and early exports went to Scandinavia. Sansoni was also a fine draughtswoman: Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner used her sketches of old buildings in a 1966 article, and her book Viharas and Verandas (1978) records Sri Lanka’s traditional architecture. In 2011 she received a Geoffrey Bawa Special Lifetime Achievement Award.
An artist’s colours on the loom: since 1958, Barefoot’s handwoven cottons have redefined colour in Sri Lanka.
What to buy
The handwoven cottons come as sarongs, bedspreads, cushions, table linen, clothes and toys, in Barefoot’s brilliant stripes and checks. They are light to pack and make some of the best gifts you can take home from Sri Lanka.
The café and bookshop
Behind the shop are a bookshop and the Garden Café, a shady place for lunch or a coffee after browsing.
Who it suits
It suits anyone who loves textiles and colour, and travellers who want to buy something made by Sri Lankan craftspeople. Prices reflect the hand weaving.
Practical tips
The shop is on Galle Road, Colombo 3. Allow time to browse the fabrics by the metre as well as the ready-made pieces.
Our advice: come in the late morning, choose a sarong or a set of cushion covers, and then have lunch in the Garden Café.
Why it's on our list
- Founded by artist Barbara Sansoni in 1958
- Handwoven cottons in vivid colours
- Made by rural women weavers
- Café and bookshop
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Barefoot before you go.
Plan your visit
- Where Galle Road, Colombo 3.
- Buy Sarongs, cushions, bedspreads, fabric by the metre.
- Also Bookshop and the Garden Café.
- Good to know Handwoven: light to pack.