THE GIRL WITH GRAND DESIGNS

Gauravi Kumari is part of Jaipur's new creative set that is bringing fresh perspectives to the city's design legacy.

- Diya Kohli

Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Gauravi Kumari enters the room with her pug, Coco, in tow. The fact that she lives in a palace and carries the weight of her family's centuriesold legacy does little to change her Gen Z effervescence. Her love for Jaipur's heritage and craft is evident in her work with the Princess Diya Kumari Foundation (PDKF) design initiatives like The Palace Atelier, and the impetus to place Rajasthan's karigars and their art on a global platform. She is part of a new wave of creatives for whom Jaipur is both an inspiration and a playing field. Over the course of the morning, she transforms into our cover model, dressed in made-in-Jaipur designs, sharing anecdotes as we walk through the different wings of the City Palace. At sunset, the sky turns a shade of carmine above the terracotta-pink roofs of the Old City. Almost on cue. Gauravi releases the helium balloons she was holding for a final photograph. Silhouetted against the backdrop of the monuments that her ancestors built, she is the quintessential girl from the Pink City. Edited excerpts from the interview:

What was growing up in Jaipur like and how has it changed?

My memories of Jaipur till I was 11 years old were about my family and my home. After that, I left for boarding school followed by university in New York. What changed when I returned to Jaipur was my perspective of how I looked at the city and I became more appreciative of its heritage. There are so many things happening in the Old City and it looks so different by day and by night when its shops and monuments all light up. There is a lovely old library on Chaura Rasta that one would have missed if not for the fact that someone has now put its name on the wall to identify it. Many Jaipur locals organise walks here just to make people aware of the different architectural motifs. I feel like people have become more aware of their heritage and want to promote it.