User:NaminiGunasena/sandbox 2

Udayshanth Jayantha Fernando (also known as Shanth Fernando), is a Sri Lankan designer, retailer and hotelier. He is the founder of the Paradise Road Group and is a noted art collector.

Born in Sri Lanka in 1949 to Sinhalese parents, Fernando traveled to Europe at the age of nineteen. Fernando attended the Maastricht Hotel Management School in Amsterdam and worked at the Pulitzer Amsterdam. He then moved to Sydney, where he worked at Hyatt Kingsgate before starting his own venture Art of Play which imported classic children’s toys from Europe. He began designing products and started manufacturing these in Sri Lanka. Returning to Sri Lanka in 1987, Fernando founded Paradise Road, to sell locally produced local handicrafts, antiques, clothing, homeware, giftware, and crockery which quickly became popular among tourists and locals. In 1998, he expanded from retail to restaurants with the opening of the upmarket restaurant The Gallery Café at the former offices of the renowned Sri Lankan architect, Geoffrey Bawa. In 2007, he moved into hotels, starting with Geoffrey Bawa designed The Villa Bentota and thereafter converting the historic Bandaranaike family town house, Tintagel to an upmarket boutique hotel. Having been a collector of art and antiques since his youth, Fernando is known for his collection of antiques as well as his extensive collection Sri Lankan modern and contemporary art.

He met his wife Angelika when he was working at Pulitzer in Amsterdam. They have two daughters, Annika who founded the concept store PR and Saskia who founded the Saskia Fernando Art Gallery.