Marie Gnanaraj is a textile designer based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. With over five decades of experience in handloom weaving, she continues to push the boundaries of textile design, exploring its structural and textural possibilities. Guided by a deep understanding of handloom as a creative and critical practice, Gnanaraj develops unique designs that emerge from an approach to weaving that defies as much as it reveres its history and materiality. Her work resists the two-dimensionality of fabric; her designs are thus three-dimensional structures that draw on architectural elements, tactile everyday materials such as coir, wire, and wood, alongside colours composed by precise thread crossings. Gnanaraj is committed to traditional textile weaving processes shaping textiles that embody labour and play, layered with material memory. She reimagines the loom as a tool of invention through innovative material use. Her journey with textiles began under the mentorship of Barbara Sansoni in the 1970s, going on to serve as Design Director of Textiles at Barefoot for three decades. Her work is featured at spaces including Heritance Kandalama in Dambulla and Cinnamon Bentota Beach.