KK Collection

KK Collection is rated 3 out of 5 in the category hospitality. Read and write reviews about KK Collection. George Cooper, a British interior designer and old Harrovian, founded the prestigious KK Collection on Sri Lanka’s southern coast in 2006. The collection comprises two exceptional boutique hotels – 12-bedroom Kahanda Kanda and 10-bedroom KK Beach – as well as a chic boutique in the heart of Galle Fort. Before coming to Sri Lanka, George ran a highly successful interior design business with clients in the UK, Europe and the United States. He was Chairman of the British Interior Designers and Decorators Association for six years and very well-respected within the interior design industry, a field within which he has worked since 1975. He has styled exclusive properties around the world and his work has featured on television and in magazines and books. George’s Sri Lanka journey began at his Gloucestershire home, where he stumbled across an amateur painting of a tropical estate in Ceylon. Keen to learn more about the artist, his great-grandfather, who first sailed to Britain’s Indian Ocean colony in 1860, and the subject, the rubber estates he had created there, George flew out to Sri Lanka in 1999. He stayed in Galle, on the south coast, and was quickly spellbound by this enigmatic island. Quite by chance, he was shown a 10-acre hilltop tea estate, 25-minutes’ drive from Galle, on the fourth day of his stay in Sri Lanka, and bought it impulsively with a view to transforming it into a private villa. Over the next eighteen months, and with the help of Australian architect, Bruce Fell-Smith, George set about creating Kahanda Kanda (KK) on the hill’s long ridge, which savoured superb panoramas over the tops of coconut palms towards distant Koggala Lake and across the property’s own working tea estate. He replanted much of the tea to raise the quality of the produce and established the extensive tropical gardens. Once the villa was complete, and after numerous holidays at KK, George decided to relocate full time to Sri Lanka in 2006, and open the property as a boutique hotel. He purchased an adjacent two-acre plot of land to create his own home – a complete Javanese timber Joglo house shipped in from Indonesia, which was reassembled piece by piece. This atmospheric abode, which sits in its own garden with pool, is now known as the Dubu Suite. In 2015, George acquired a plot of land on prized Habaraduwa Beach, one of Galle’s most pristine stretches of sand, and transformed it into KK Beach, a chic and affordable boutique hotel. Its contemporary modernist style is quite different to sister hotel KK yet the two share high standards of service and facilities and together support the growing number of discerning couples looking for a private and indulgent base near Galle. George Cooper opened his first shop in Galle Fort in 2009. Since then the business has expanded and is now located at 71 Pedlar Street in the Fort. On offer is a wide selection of stylish homeware products from cutlery to coconut bowls, candle holders to bronze sculptures. Equally important is the extensive fashion collection for both men and women, including kaftans to swimwear. On display are works of art by local Sri Lankan artists all available for sale. The KK Collection is a successful business which is fast growing in both the hospitality and the retail sector in Sri Lanka.