By Azhara Raban
"Masks of Sri Lanka", an exhibition organized by Laksala, and the Sri Lanka Handicrafts Board, set up under the Ministry of Vocational Training and Rural Industries, is one of the strategies adopted by them in order to promote their products. However the exhibition will also consist of products belonging to other talented handicraftsmen apart from those belonging to Laksala.

Laksala has also open-ed a showroom to provide these unskilled craftsmen with a place to exhibit and sell their products. The showroom will be run by Laksala will charge a 15% commission of the selling price from craftsmen when their products are sold, said Asoka Subasinghe, Chairman of Laksala, speaking at a press conference held on Friday. Craftsmen t will not be charged for displaying their products, he said. A committee has been appointed in order to decide what sort of products have to be exhibited in the showroom.

Laksala purchases crafts from talented craftsmen by paying them a fair price and sourcing handicrafts from " Craft Villages" set up throughout the country. They also encourage craftsmen to turn out new motifs and designs and introduce them to appropriate technological advances and enhance profits.

Laksala also takes part in international trade fairs showcasing their handicrafts to the world and finding global markets for their crafts, Mr. Subasinghe said.

Two hundred Craft Training Units have been set up throughout the island by the Sri Lanka Handicraft Board, manned by a staff of 250. Annually 2000 pupils are said to be trained in these Units. The government provides these pupils with grants and spends nearly 30 million on training activities.

Laksala has twenty branches throughout the island and they are run solely on their own without any government assistance and they also generate their own funds for commercial activities.

Laksala inaugurated in 1964 by the then Prime Minister Srima-vo Bandaranaike under the Department of Rural Development and Small Industries while the Sri Lanka Hand-icrafts Board was set up under the National Craft Council and Allied Institution Act. No. 35 of 1982. Laksala has an annual income of 120 million and earns 10 million from exports per annum.