Kooi-i website — Web Project

Project Overview

The Kooii project was designed and developed by Isura Wickramarachchi in 2007 as a dynamic PHP/MySQL web platform created to promote emerging artists from around the world. The concept behind Kooii was to become an international online marketplace and promotional portal where artists could showcase their work, gain global exposure, and connect with collectors and art enthusiasts.

Unlike a traditional portfolio website, Kooii was planned as a content-driven artist management system, allowing administrators to continuously publish new artists, artworks, news articles, magazines, and art categories through a custom-built administration panel.

At the time the project was discontinued, approximately 90% of the development had been completed. Unfortunately, the client decided to terminate the project before its official launch, despite the majority of the platform already being fully developed.

Design & Structure

The website follows a minimalist contemporary design that allows artwork to become the primary visual focus.

The homepage features a large featured artwork slider, designed to display selected paintings that administrators could update regularly through the administration panel. This ensured the homepage always presented fresh artwork without requiring any changes to the website's source code.

The page is organised into three distinct sections:

Left Navigation – Quick access to major areas of the website.
Featured Artwork – Highlighting selected artists and their work.
Right Sidebar – Displaying the latest registered artists and artwork categories.

The homepage also introduces Kooii's mission of supporting artists from developing countries while promoting fair trade and sustainable artistic careers.

A calm combination of white, olive green, and grey provides a clean gallery-like atmosphere, ensuring that colourful artwork remains the centre of attention.

Unique Design Concept

Kooii was designed to function as an international online art community rather than a traditional company website.

The primary concept was to allow artwork itself to define the visual identity of the homepage. Instead of static banners, the featured painting could be replaced at any time through the administration panel, meaning the appearance of the website continuously evolved as new artists were promoted.

The right-hand sidebar dynamically displayed:

Newly added artists
Number of artworks submitted by each artist
Art style categories
Artwork totals within each category

This provided visitors with a constantly changing homepage that reflected the activity of the growing artist community.

The interface was intentionally minimalist, using subtle colours, generous white space, and clean typography to create the feeling of walking through a contemporary art gallery rather than browsing a commercial website.

Unique Design Features

100% custom-designed interface.
Dynamic PHP/MySQL artist management platform.
Homepage artwork automatically changeable from the administration panel.
Artist profile management.
Artwork catalogue management.
Art category management.
Latest artist listing.
Dynamic artwork statistics.
News & Events management.
Online magazine section.
Clean gallery-inspired interface.
Minimalist design focusing on artwork rather than decoration.
Cross-browser compatibility.

Unlike most art websites of the mid-2000s, which displayed only static portfolios, Kooii was designed as a living platform where new artists and artworks could continuously transform the homepage, making every visit different.

Technical Highlights

Dynamic PHP/MySQL web application.
Custom administration system.
Artist management module.
Artwork management system.
Dynamic homepage featured artwork.
Category management.
News management.
Magazine management.
Dynamic statistics.
Search-engine-friendly architecture.
Cross-browser compatibility.

Significance

The Kooii project represents one of Isura Wickramarachchi's most ambitious creative web applications, combining database-driven content management with a modern gallery-style user experience. The platform was designed not merely as a website, but as an international ecosystem for artists—supporting artwork promotion, artist profiles, editorial content, and categorised collections within a single integrated system.

One of its most innovative features was the dynamic homepage, where administrators could regularly replace the featured artwork, allowing the website's appearance to evolve continuously as new artists joined the platform. Combined with artist statistics, category listings, and automated content management, the system anticipated many of the features that later became common in online creative communities.

Although approximately 90% of the development had been completed, the client unexpectedly decided to terminate the project before its official launch. As a result, the platform never reached the public despite the extensive work already invested in its design, development, and administration system. Nevertheless, Kooii remains an excellent example of Isura Wickramarachchi's vision for large-scale creative platforms and demonstrates his ability to build sophisticated PHP/MySQL content management systems years before artist marketplace websites became widely popular.