About Us
The beginnings
Located about 13km from the famed tourism hub Negombo in North Western Province, Dankotuwa is a sleepy village featuring towering brick chimneys facing the sparkling tropical blue sky and wayside shops filled with alluring pottery ware, welcoming you to a world of clay-based products. The historical significance of Dankotuwa, as the idyllic village of pottery-ware and pottery-craftsmen dates back to the glorious days of the ancient Ceylon kingdom prior to the European invasions and colonisation. However the village came to limelight during the 1980s, with the discovery of world-class porcelain-ware manufactured in Dankotuwa. since then world's best china has become the 'global identity' of this serene village, as the village name 'Dankotuwa' is utilised as the brand name of one of the major porcelain manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. Along with porcelain-ware and pottery industries Dankotuwa is also well-known among locals for brick industry and clay tile manufacturing.
Our story began twenty five years ago when Mr. Henry Samarasinghe, a skilled mechanical technician with nearly five decades of experience in the field retired from his so far familiar career path to be his own boss. Born and bred in Dankotuwa, a terrain blessed with rich soil and living heritage with clay products that dates back to hundred years, young Mr. Henry Samarasinghe grew up amid the fresh aroma of baking clay bricks and tiles from neighbouring factories. None of us know what lies in store for us tomorrow. Back then little did Mr. Samarasinghe know that in his forties he would launch himself as a businessman, leading his own clay tile manufacturing facility in a highly competitive business environment. In early 1990s our founder was researching on clay tile industry when he discovered majority of manufacturing defects were due to machinery errors.
Sensing big opportunity, Mr. Samarasinghe started manufacturing clay tiles in a small shed in 1990. A perfectionist by nature, Mr. Samarasinghe researched ways to improve the quality of the clay tiles while reducing resource wastage. The wastage of clay and manufacturing defects are the main concerns of local tile manufacturers. With more than five decades of experience in the field, he was able to perceive the mechanical and technological errors in the tools and machinery used for tile manufacturing. After a careful and through observation, Mr. Samarasinghe made changes in imported machines and equipments in order to solve the prevailing issues. As a result Randiya Tiles were of high quality and the brand name was able to set the bar high from its humble beginnings.
Our first batch of clay tiles consisted of 250 tiles and the initial production was limited to a single type of tile, Calicut Tile. Back then the production capacity was 15,000 tiles per month. The inventory skills and dedication of our founder paved path for him to perfect the art of tile making. As the demand for Randiya Tiles ascended Mr. Samarasinghe built a manufacturing facility in his home premises which was equipped with innovative solutions aimed at maximising the product quality and production efficiency.
Heritage continues..
Since our humble beginnings in the year 1990, our voyage is carefully navigated through rough seas of day-to-day challenges and barriers by our founder until his son, Sanjitha Samarasinghe joined hands with his father with the ambition of transforming the family business into a well-known and trusted brand name in Sri Lanka. Being an enthusiastic learner with an unquenchable thirst for perfect results Mr. Sanjitha Samarasinghe started leading the company and his father's dreams took wings with his son as the pillar of strength.
By 1999 this small scale company had its own tile manufacturing facility with the capacity of making 30,000 tiles per batch. Amid obstacles and challenges Randiya Tile Factory continued to grow and in 2009 the product portfolio was expanded, introducing Randiya Euro Tile, Randiya Roman Tile and Randiya Right Tile.
The product quality of Randiya Tiles was catapulted into the limelight with the positive feedback of well-satisfied Randiya customers.
