Kala Suri Barbara Sansoni (22 April 1928 – 23 April 2022) was a Sri Lankan veteran designer, who founded the Barefoot textile company in the 1950’s and served as the chairperson and chief designer of Barefoot Pvt. Ltd for several years.[1]
In 1970, she won the J. D. Rockefeller Travel Award and also the Zonta Woman of Achievement from the Zonta Club of Colombo in 1987. Ms Sansoni also won the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in gold category in 1997 from the Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
She was conferred with a Kala Suri from the Government of Sri Lanka in 2005 during the Sri Lankan national honours in recognition for her special contributions. She received a Geoffrey Bawa Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 for her contributions to art and architecture.
In 2016, she was conferred with an Honarary Doctor of Philosophy.
Ms Sansoni died on 23 April 2022, about an hour after her 94th birthday.
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