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Just after finishing my secondary school,
I joined a jewelry shop in Colombo.
Then working and getting experience
in five years there with two of my partners,
we started our company in the suburb of Colombo, Wellawatte.
From 1978, we had only three staff members.
And we did not start manufacturing jewelry.
So it proceeded.
And from 1983, there was a communal problem in Sri Lanka.
So we were forced to shut up our shop.
In '85, we re-start.
And from '85 onwards, we started a shop
at the small regulated shop.
We were subcontracting jewelry to others,
the small manufacturers.
And we were selling as a retailer.
In late '87, I learned the casting of jewelry
by centrifugal machines.
So from 1987 I learned casting.
And then I started moving and thinking about casting jewelry.
At that time, casting is not that popular in Sri Lanka.
As far as my knowledge, there were only three machines
they had in Sri Lanka.
All were centrifugal casting machines.
In 1990, I thought why shouldn't I invest in a casting machine?
So we look for the various machines.
And finally, we were settled for a vacuum casting machine.
And we sourced it from Italy.
I went for the training there.
I went for one week training.
And I learned the art of vacuum casting.
So we bought a machine.
At the time, it was also actually a smaller model.
It was around $10,000 US.
In '91-- in late '90s, actually, we started production in cast.
So that gave us really a competitive edge
among other jewelers.
We were manufacturing in house, and our costs
were brought on so drastically less,
comparing the manual labor.
And we were able to deliver orders quicker and faster.
Our variation in weights were almost nothing, or just 1%.
Actually, before that, when you do a jewelry piece
with the manual piece, one time he
make a jewelry piece with 10 grams.
Next time, he'll be using 11 grams.
So all that kind of problems were solved.
And we grow there and I hired young guys.
Most of them are school drop-outs.
And trained them in casting, finishing, stone-setting.
Also in the meantime, I hired people
from the Sri Lanka government-sponsored technical
college, where they finished their manufacturing diplomas.
I had four of them.
They were, at that time, excellent producers.
One guy still working with us-- [INAUDIBLE].
He's our senior craftsman still now.
And then in 2005, we were forced to leave that place
because our business was expanding
and we couldn't stay in the same place.
So in 2005, we moved to this new premises.
We set up our factories.
And through laser machines, laser cutting,
and these XRF gold checking machines and new casting
machines, all new machinery.
And we have more than 35 people working at that factory now.
And all together in our company, there
are about 115 staff we have.
And we have young girls, boys, and all the ethnic members
of the Sri Lankan society.
And now presently, we can probably
say that we are the leading jeweler in Sri Lanka.