Sunita Kohli

Sunita Kohli is an Indian interior designer, architectural restorer and furniture manufacturer. She has restored and decorated Rashtrapati Bhavan (the President's House), Parliament House Colonnade (1985–1989), the Prime Minister's Office and Hyderabad House in New Delhi.

She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1992.

Early life and education Born in Lakshmi Mansions to Indar Prakash and Chand Sur, Her father took her to auctions and sales, looking for old lamps and furniture.

Career Kohli taught at Loreto Convent Lucknow, before the start of her career in interior design.

In Lahore, Pakistan, she worked on the restoration and conversion into a boutique hotel of a late Sikh-period haveli in the Old City. In the early 1990s, she did the interior design of the British Council Building in New Delhi. She also designed the National Assembly Building in Thimpu, Bhutan. This building was again worked on in 2010, by K2india for the SAARC Summit in Bhutan. She has also been involved in the restoration and redecoration of numerous British Raj period buildings in New Delhi, including Rashtrapati Bhawan (formerly Viceroy's House), the Prime Minister's Office, Parliament House and Hyderabad House.

In 1992, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India "for contribution to national life by excellence in the field of Interior Design and Architectural Restoration". In the same year, she received the "Mahila Shiromani Award", recognising women of achievement, by Mother Teresa.

In 2005, Kohli was instrumental in the conceptualisation and founding of the Museum of Women in the Arts, India. She has been on the National Advisory Board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.

In 2014, she was nominated as the chairperson of the board of governors of the School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal by the MHRD, Government of India, for a period of five years. In 2019, she joined the board of advisors at Rishihood University.

Personal life In 1971, Sunita Kohli married Ramesh Kohli, an equity investor and alumni of the Doon School in Dehradun, St. Stephens College and Delhi University's faculty of law. They have three children.