Entrepreneurs venture into the unknown with a balanced mind of discreteness and solidarity. Amila Abeykoon, Managing Director of Urban Illusions (Pvt) Ltd is one such individual who marked his presence in the interior designing industry, with a new wave of creativity.

Urban Illusions (Pvt) Ltd was initiated with a solo dream to provide custom-made furniture, catering to the client’s needs. In the designing world, providing a new edge to the existing designs helps companies stand out from the crowd. Similarly, Urban Illusions strikes a great deal of points with its eye to detail.

Amila started his career in interior designing as a project coordinator, back in 2005, and continued till the Head of Design & Project Manager. Holding 12 years of experience in the Furniture and Interior Design Industry, he was ready to venture into a path of his own. “I started my own interior design and furniture manufacturing company 5 years ago in 2017”. Balancing his design career, Amila also engages in other businesses as the Director at El Evento (Pvt) Ltd, AAYU Sri life (Pvt) Ltd, and Urban Manufacturers (Pvt) Ltd. Amila also serves as the secretary of FIND SL (Forum of Innovative Designers in Sri Lanka). Urban Illusions has been thriving in the design field since its initiation, having successfully completed 25+ projects at leading hotels and residential projects in Sri Lanka. “We also overlook design consultation, furniture manufacturing, project management, construction & consulting. Usually, companies incorporate existing furniture designs to transform them into new designs. At Urban Illusions however, we try to provide a new perspective to interior designing by custom-building furniture to suit the client’s vision”.

Urban Illusions maintains a constant work ethic by providing their clients with the utmost customer satisfaction possible, being professionals, whilst catering to their client’s expected design requirements. Amila follows a principle in his career, “I hope to provide opportunities for new upcoming designers. Our forum, FIND (Forum of Innovative Designers in Sri Lanka), in collaboration with Malaysia, envisions to further create a stable platform for new designers who hope to enter the market with confidence”. Maintaining a good reputation with professionals and senior architects, Amila makes sure that Urban Illusions and everyone linked with it, contain a sustainable future. “We believe that to stand out from the crowd and to provide a satisfactory experience for the client lies in quality and communication throughout the service”, Amila adds. Their custom-made furniture caters to the client’s requests accordingly by incorporating high-quality raw materials. Furthermore, Urban Illusions, already providing its services in design consultation, furniture manufacturing, project management, and construction, hopes to enhance and advance in these respective areas inthe future.

Challenges and hardships are typical signs in the life of an entrepreneur, and Amila too isn’t new to this. Having to face a fair share of hurdles in the initial stage of the business, he state, “The current economic crisis does dampen the spirits of businesses but Urban Illusions has been facing challenges for the past four years after the Easter attacks that took place in 2019. The hyperinflation has made the economy unimaginably unstable, leaving us in a difficult situation to provide a quotation to last even a week. our quotations were usually bracketed to 03 months in the past”. Amila continues, “The cost of raw materials is sky-rocketing these days and the transportation is drastically hindered due to the fuel crisis. We also faced trouble with the power cuts obstructing the energy consumption, leaving us in delay to complete our ongoing projects. We find it hard to meet client deadlines”. Contemplating these issues, Amila is dedicated to engage in other ventures that are not related to interior design. With the true spirit of an entrepreneur, he plans to change marketing plans accordingly to tackle this crisis and initiate new business strategies to be implemented.

Concluding his statement, Amila dedicated his words of inspiration to new entrepreneurs of the upcoming generations, “There is no right time to start a business. Even during this time when the country is facing an economic crisis, I encourage people to enter new avenues, and unleash problem-solving strategies. This in turn would be helpful to turn around the crisis for the better”, Amila states. He further goes on, “A never-giving-up attitude in the face of adversities, tackling barriers and thinking-outside the box, is one such important attribute that is a must-have in an entrepreneur”. Furthermore, he concludes that the designing industry is a place where you receive both positive and negative feedback. Therefore, having the courage to accept it for what it is and using constructive criticism to transform into the better in the long run, is his ultimate goal.