People
Serendipity
Kuldeep Kaur,
Curator & Designer
THE SUNDAY STANDARD
‘Serendipity’ started out as an experiment.
It metamorphosed into a well-curated collection of textiles, furniture and vintage decor retailed at one of Delhi’s many urban villages from a small store in an urban space.
“Our lives too are serendipitous. We start with a plan but life takes its own course. Our store is one such example,” Kuldeep Kaur, 45, says.
Having finished a Master’s in Spanish and a major in French from Delhi (something she never planned for in school), Kuldeep went on to do a Master’s again in Business from Ghaziabad. After spending a few years training in the garment industry before setting up her own textile business -- designing and selling high-end home textiles to some of the best names in the industry including ABC Carpet & Home, Barney’s New York, and Selfridges, to name a few, she set up ‘Serendipity‘.
After a year of operating from Vasant Kunj, Kuldeep shifted it to her family haveli in Jonapur village in Chhattarpur. Today her customers can enjoy shopping followed by some lemonade in the courtyard or at the rooftop.
“Not to mention, a free parking zone,” she says. It’s just the sort of luxury Delhi seeks.
Her clients also love spending time amid the curated antique furniture neatly displayed in different rooms of her expansive haveli.
“To like our things, one needs to be a bit of a gypsy at heart, just like I am,” Kuldeep says.
She began by curating and designing home linens, and moved to apparels and personal care products.
“We are also bringing in a few niche brands to our store,” she says.
The gypsy-at-heart travelled all over India with her father, an Air Force officer, before settling down in Delhi. Having spent a major part of her life here, she admits to not praising the city enough.
“It still is like soul food for me, moulding my thoughts and approach towards life every single day,” she adds.
Delhi has made her more assertive and adventurous work-wise, as she needs to push harder to get things done. She says life in Delhi has taken a 360-degree turn from the time she moved in.
“It’s busy as it can be, fast-paced and aggressive,” she says.
What melts her heart is the history associated with it, its monuments and the romance she imagines once existed in those ruins. Is there anything about the city that bothers her?
“Every time I visit Chandni Chowk, Humayun’s Tomb or narrow lanes behind Jama Masjid, I wish Delhi would get back its lost slower pace and people would become more relaxed.”
[With input from Supriya Krishan, The Indian Express. Edited for sikhchic.com]
April 12, 2015
Conversation about this article
1: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), April 12, 2015, 5:17 PM.
Given the right weather to bloom, Kuldeep Kaur ji has demonstrated that women are equally capable, if not more. She has seized the opportunity to show new ways of thinking and doing things. A breath of fresh air indeed.