A Fashıonable Life: Simran Lal
India’s top décor label Good earth’s chic CEO leads a lifestyle that is thoroughly seeped in the brand’s design ideology
Simran Lal is just about 10 minutes late for our meeting, but is profuse in her apologies. “I’m so sorry, it’s been a really hectic couple of days and I’ve just been running around,” she says, as we shake hands. “We are in the process of building our new house. In fact, we will move there within the next week. You can imagine, right?” she explains, settling into a jute chair and ordering herself an Earl Grey. Dressed is a summery pink chikan sari, with a stunning, long, silver-and-jade necklace, it’s hard to miss the fact that Simran is perfectly coordinated with the floral pink-and-black Kashmir ki Kali wallpaper behind her. We are at Café Latitude, the Good earth restaurant atop the Delhi flagship, and a popular dining destination in the city. With large wall mirrors, tables set with pristine white crockery from the brand’s Silk range, and a menu that leans towards an organic bent, the café is every bit an extension of the store below. A store that Simran, as CEO of Good earth, is putting on the global home décor and design map.
There are few people who haven’t been drawn to the powerful appeal of Good earth. For over 15 years now, the label’s emphasis on contemporary design that employs traditional Indian craftsmanship has resulted in vibrant, colourful products that feature Indian motifs like marigolds, poppies, chillies, peacocks, and tigers—from home décor, to skincare and apparel—making it a go-to destination for the style cognoscenti (Uma Thurman loves its spa range, while more recently Steven Spielberg visited and called the Mumbai flagship “heavenly.”) The brainchild of Simran’s mother Anita, who started off with a small outlet in Kemps Corner, Mumbai, in 1996, Good earth today has proliferated to 10 stores across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai, and one in Singapore. A massive project that Simran has been at the forefront of.
“I officially started here in 2002, handling front-end retail and the operational parts, which frankly, I didn’t know much about, but someone had to do it,” recalls the 41-year-old. “I said fine, this is my challenge. I deep-dived into the retail, but did the joyful part as well—the sourcing and product development—for which my mum and I travelled the world.”
Simran’s primary aim at that time was to consolidate everything at Good earth and to really stamp the brand in public
consciousness, something she achieved to a large extent by spearheading the opening of the label’s biggest flagship in Mumbai in 2005—a 20,000 sq ft space in Raghuvanshi Mills. Today it continues to be one of their most impressive outlets. “It was a huge step, unbelievable, a big, big thing for us,” remembers Simran. “So much so that I moved to Mumbai, and spent the next few years setting up that store and making it functional and successful.”
That singular major move was the first in line of many with which Simran really started building ‘Brand Good earth’. She brought in more clarity in design launches, streamlined the processes in the store, and aligned everything to one vision. Apart from a signature collection launch every year that Anita Lal creates, Simran worked on introducing, two years ago, the Charbagh Atelier services, the brand’s bespoke interior design services, which was also a time when the eco-conscious range of apparel ‘Sustain’ was launched. This was followed by Gumdrops, an organic line of kids’ apparel and products. Simran was the one behind the scenes, quietly establishing the protocols and bringing everything together.
The results have been fantastic. Today, apart from the fact that Good earth is by far the most stylish décor destination in the country, the brand is looking at international growth in a big way and an imminent e-commerce launch—Simran admits she is constantly working. “I think it gets too much for the family – my husband, sister, brother, and father are all like, oh my god, not Good earth again.” A mother of two small boys—Raghav, 5, and
“I think it gets too much for the family—my husband, sister, and brother, are all like, oh my god, not Good earth again.”
Arjun, 3—life is a constant balancing act for her. “I bring work home a lot because I just want to be around the kids. I blur all these different areas, which some people say is not good. But the kids always help me switch off, saying the sweetest, maddest things— you know, it puts a perspective to things.”
The time spent at home therefore is very important to Simran. ( When we spoke, she was just about to shift from her Chanakyapuri home into a new space in Nizamuddin.) “A beautiful home is very important to me, not for the show of it, but because I enjoy a peaceful, visually beautiful house, that is also child-friendly.” Not surprisingly, hers is a fitting reflection of everything that Good earth is renowned for—there are the arresting papered walls in the main living area, delicate vases and objets d’art in different corners, trademark crockery, and whimsical soft furnishings peppered throughout. There is also her dining table, originally from The Tasting Room (the restaurant at the Raghuvanshi Mills outlet), over which she and
husband Raul Rai met for the first time. Simran laughingly argues that there are collectibles from all over the world as well, when I point out that there seems to be only her home brand at her house. “The truth is we fully follow the Good earth ideology in our personal lives. Anything in the store, I can either wear, or keep in my home. And we do this without consciously thinking about it. If you lose that, you can become anyone else. That’s what keeps us, us. I have Good earth at home because I believe in it.”
Extend that to dressing as well. One will almost always find Simran in her label’s Sustain range or in fine fabrics like malmal and khadi. She calls her style contemporary Indian, and naturally favours saris. “This, in fact,” she says pointing to the one she is wearing, “was my mother’s, that I have taken over.” Her real love though, she confesses, is jewellery. “I love silver, jade, turquoise, tourmaline, and old beautiful jewellery my grandmother has passed down. I love accessorising my clothes. I carry lovely Jim Thompson bags, Good earth fabric bags—things that I feel have a little more character. I collect those from all over the world.” At home, she is mostly dressed in an indigo kaftan from their loungewear range. “My husband says it’s a uniform—my mother, sister, and friends are all in it.”
Splitting her time equally between Delhi and Mumbai, Simran says life is hectic. An ideal way to relax would be to take a holiday with the kids—travelling is a passion, but something she hasn’t indulged in in a while. “When I was 20, I backpacked around Mexico for a month, jumping onto buses and going to different places, without anyone.” Unwinding today means reading a book, surrounded by jasmine fragrance, and pottering around at house. “In our new house, the hangout room is an open kitchen,” she says excitedly. “I am not a regular cook, but once in a while it is lovely to have a conversation around the kitchen. We are not big TV people either, so it’s really the cooking, the kitchen, and the children helping around the house. And once all the chinks have been the ironed out, I am really looking to entertaining a lot more.” Good Earth style, no doubt.