Sunita Surya Kohli (better known as Sunita Kohli) is considered to be one of the most popular interior designers in India. She is a self-taught, research-based interior designer. She is known for restoring many famous buildings, palaces and forts in Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. She has preserved famous national heritage that was on the verge of disappearing.
Wiki/Biography
Sunita Kohli was born on Sunday, December 28, 1946, in Lakshmi House (Victoria House), Lahore, Pakistan (age 75; as of 2021). She grew up in Lucknow. Sunita Kohli studied at Roman Catholic School, Lucknow. She later studied English Literature from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi and completed her MA from Lucknow University. After completing her studies, she taught at Loreto College, Lucknow. As a child, Sunita Kohli attended many sales and auctions with her father Indar Prakash, where the Osler Chandelier could be seen as well as the Writ and Butler Collection of lamps. Looking at these collections sparked her interest in design.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 5″
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye color: brown
family
Sunita Kohli’s family originates from Lahore. After the partition of India, her parents decided to migrate to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
Sunita Kohli and her family
parents
Sunita Kohli’s father Indar Prakash belongs to a Rajput family and her mother Chand Sur is a Hindu Baloch from Quetta people. Sunita Kohli lost her mother on December 3, 2021.
Pictures of Sunita Kohli and her mother Chand Sur
husband and children
On November 21, 1971, 24-year-old Sunita Kohli tied the knot with Ramesh Kohli, one of India’s most successful equity investors. She has three children, Kokila Kohli (the sole proprietor of Koko’s KitChan) and Kohelika Kohli (she is India’s most successful equity investor). is an architect and graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. His son Suryaveer Kohli is the CEO and founder of SVK Home. Sunita Kohli has three grandchildren namely Anadya, Zohravar and Aaryaman Bhati.
Sunita Kohli pictured with husband Ramesh Kohli during 60th birthday celebrations
Pictures of Sunita Kohli and her daughter Kohelika Kohli
address
No. 31, Golf Course, Ground Floor, Former Apartment, New Delhi
Profession
Interior designers and building restorers
According to Sunita Kohli, she and her husband visited many ‘kabaddi’ shops (shops of scrap dealers) in Lucknow, Rajasthan, Dehradun and Mussoorie. After discovering many antiques there, such as lamps from the early 19th century, she decided to become an antiques dealer. and Edwardian furniture; she decided to sell the Davenport desk and the Regency wine table. She learned these skills from a master craftsman in Lucknow. According to Sunita, when she started selling these antiques, many clients started approaching her for redecoration. Her first major project was the design of a small hotel in Khajuraho. In 2007, she talked about this in an interview and said,
“When clients commission me to restore furniture, they also ask for advice on how to redecorate their homes. Interior design as a profession was actually introduced to India in the 1970s.”
In 1971, she established the interior design company “Sunita Kohli Interior Designs” in New Delhi, India. In 1972, she established “Sunita Kohli and Company”, a modern classic furniture manufacturing company. As her career flourished, she began receiving invitations to redesign embassies and ambassadors’ residences. She restored many British and non-British buildings. Sunita Kohli helped restore the works of many famous architects, including Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbert Baker and Robert Tow Sir Robert Tor Russell. Sunita Kohli restored and decorated the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Colonnade of Parliament House, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Hyderabad Palace in New Delhi, India. Her work can be seen in many hotels and public buildings in Bhutan, including the Parliament Building of Bhutan. She designed the interiors of the British Council Building and the DLF corporate offices on Parliament Street, New Delhi, India. Sunita Kohli has worked in several countries, especially Egypt, where she designed several resorts and luxury hotel ships on the Nile for the Egyptian General Company of Tourism and Hotels (EGOTH) and the Oberoi Group. She also restored, designed and furnished the Naila Fort in Jaipur for Mr. PRS Oberoi, Chairman of the Oberoi Group.
author
Sunita Kohli has authored many books like Tanjore Paintings, Traditional Lamps of India, Awadhi Cuisine in the Kitchens of Jehangirabad and World Heritage Cultural Sites of India 》. She wrote a chapter on Lutyens and New Delhi titled “The Creation of the Planned City” for her book The New Delhi Millennium Book, published by Oxford University Press. Sunita Kohli has co-authored a book titled Lucknow Cookbook with her mother Chand Sur; the book was published on December 5, 2017 and has 230 pages, 18 chapters, 150 vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, Representing the smell of their kitchens and the kitchens of friends and family. The book went on to become one of the non-fiction bestsellers in India. This book contains the essence of Lucknow’s food and culture. In an interview held in 2019, Sunita Kohli said about ‘The Lucknow Recipe’,
The recipes in the book are drawn from a rich culinary heritage, and food preparation is learned through observation, a process of osmosis. Four generations of our family have been pretty good cooks, and this book captures the recipes we learned from my mother and other close friends. ”
Sunita Kohli and her mother Chand Sur are pictured holding the Lucknow Cookbook
Social activist
Sunita Kohli is the founder and trustee of the Satyagyan Foundation, an affiliate of World Literacy Canada in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is a non-governmental organization that aims to empower women economically by providing vocational training and literacy. She is the Board Chairperson of Save Mothers, an NGO working to reduce maternal and infant mortality in India. She is also a contributor to the Women’s Cancer Initiative at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India.
National Museum of Women in the Arts of India
In 2005, Sunita Kohli co-founded the National Museum of Women in the Arts in India with the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. It was founded “to commemorate women artists of the past, promote the achievements of women artists today, and secure the place of women artists in the future.” She is also a member of the National Advisory Board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC.
K2 India
Sunita Kohli co-founded K2India in 2010 along with her daughter Kohelika Kohli. It is a multi-disciplinary design and architecture firm headquartered in New Delhi. The idea of setting up the company was to bring in the creativity and ideas of two different companies namely “Kohelika Kohli Architects” (the architectural and project management unit of the company established in 2004), “Sunita Kohli Interior Designs Pvt.” Ltd’ (the company’s interior designers’ group, established in 1972) and ‘Sunita Kohli & Co.’ (the company’s furniture manufacturing unit, established in 1971) under one roof. The company specializes in the design of restaurants, hotels and resorts, gyms, private residences, corporate offices, luxury hotels, ships and aircraft; and the restoration of fortresses, palaces, public buildings and heritage features. The company has successfully completed multiple projects in Egypt, Bhutan, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and other countries. In 2014, the firm won an Architectural Digest Top 50 Award. The firm has also received many other awards such as AD Award (2020), FCCI FLO (2019-2020), India’s Most Prestigious Architect and Design Awards (2019), Inkpot Achievement Award (2019), ID Honors Award (2019), AD Award (2108), Fashion Award (2017), AD50 Award (2017), Architecture and Interior Design Festival Award (2016), Interior Design Association Honors Award (2015), ET Architecture and Design Summit (2014 ;
One of K2India’s residential projects “Mongolia Apartment”
One of K2India’s commercial projects “Underdogg Sports Bar and Grill”
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 1992, Sunita Kohli was awarded the Padma Shri, making her the first interior designer to receive India’s fourth highest civilian award for her work in the field of “Architectural Restoration and Design”.
- Sunita Kohli is the first woman to be appointed as the Dean of the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh; she was appointed in January 2014.
- In 1991, she received the prestigious Mahila Shiromani Award from Mother Teresa; the award honors women for their achievements in the field of civil society.
Sunita Kohli received the ‘Mahila Shiromani Award’ from Mother Teresa in 1991
Facts/Trivia
- Sunita Kohli has taught at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Glasgow School of Art, UK.
- She is the only interior designer to be awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award.
- She has published multiple papers in different fields such as design, architecture, historic preservation, literature, Mughal jewelery as a manifesto of empire, world heritage cultural heritage in India and social entrepreneurship.
- She is a member of the Presidential Advisory Council. She is also a member of the General Council of the Indian Institute of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. Sunita Kohli is also a member of Della Leaders Club (DLC).
- She is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of Sushant Institute of Art and Architecture, Haryana, India.
- The furniture in Sunita Kohli’s home is modern in design and most of it is designed and made by her daughter Kohelika Kohli.
- Her name is also Gudi.
- Sunita Kohli’s favorite dessert is homemade kulfi.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education