About — Stories are the only way to speak to people shaped by emotions, cultures and desires.
Public Works is a studio led by a designer-writer collaboration. With stories at the center of our work, we like to operate in the space bridging products and services—making stories and things with stories for ourselves and our clients.
Shamalee de Silva Parizeau
Writer/Strategist/Company owner
Shamalee’s strategic consultation has been used to revive brands, drive campaigns and reposition events as well as personalities, including Sri Lanka Design Festival, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and Colombo Innovation Tower. Her written work has been published in national newspapers like The Sunday Times, while her words have directed film and digital productions, as well as books and research for several organisations such as AOD, Colomboscope and Elpitiya Plantations.
Shamalee has over a decade’s experience as an independently commissionable writer, building compelling conversations for brands, personalities, artists, corporations and governmental organisations like Brandix, Anoma Wijewardene, Linda Speldewinde, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Export Development Board of Sri Lanka. Public Works is Shamalee’s own studio practice where her expertise as a writer shapes storytelling for brands.
She holds an (HND) Diploma in Spatial Design from the Academy of Design (AOD), Colombo, Sri Lanka, and a BA (Hons) degree in Fashion from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Why partner with us?
Limited client list
Similarly to the Pareto principle (80/20 rule), we think roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes; meaning, 80% of returns come from 20% of clients. We prefer to give more of our time to a few businesses, rather than give a little time to more businesses. We’re not bluffing a rare business virtue. It’s a practice that makes perfect business sense and allows quality solutions to be created.
Alain S. Parizeau
Image maker/Designer/Company director
Alain Parizeau is a designer and brand articulation specialist and has gained a reputation for helping businesses from around the world, develop and restructure communication systematically and effectively. From redesigning magazines, to developing wayfinding systems, Alain’s direction has helped North American and South Asian companies align their brand communications and business goals with their target audiences.
Some of his business logos, editorial spreads, and packaging design were featured in international graphic design publications such as Coupe Magazine, and How Magazine. Sri Lankan National newspapers like the Daily FT and the Daily Mirror regularly featured some of his design workshops and seminars takeaways. Parallel to this, he has been a speaker on design, branding, and typography at festivals and conferences such as Sri Lanka Design Festival, UX Colombo, Maldives Marketing Forum, and Disrupt Asia. He was a senior lecturer and head of the visual communication department at AOD for 10 years—his strongest asset was his ability to observe and understand the various cultural, social, and behavioral differences between each student.
Parizeau holds a DEC in Multimedia from André Grasset College, Montreal, Canada, and a BA (Hons) degree in Graphic Design from York University, Toronto, Canada. Additionally, Parizeau is a HEA associate fellow (AFHEA), which demonstrates a personal commitment to professionalism in learning and teaching in higher education. He was also a member of the International Association of Typographic Designer (ISTD), and for several years was on the ISTD international competition judging committee.
We’re an efficient and lean team-of-two with a carefully chosen network of creatives hired according to the unique production needs of each story. We’re based in Colombo, in the seaside town Mount Lavinia. But every year, our work takes us to different places, from Kabalana and Arugam Bay on the south and east coasts of Sri Lanka, as well as British Columbia in Canada. An email will get a conversation started no matter where we are.