Feroze Gujral


Feroze Gujral is a philanthropist, art aficionado, patron, businesswoman, columnist and media personality. She is the Founder and Director of The Gujral Foundation a non-profit trust set up in 2008, along with her husband Mohit Gujral. She is also the Founder Director of Outset India, the Indian chapter of Outset Contemporary Art Fund, which is the largest acquisition art fund in the world, present in 9 countries, established in 2011.

Career

Background

The Gujral Foundation has been steadfast in their dedication to support Indian art, design and culture both locally and globally. It has been recognized as one of India's leading art foundations. Feroze Gujral defines her vision for The Gujral Foundation as For India, By India and about Indian art and culture, we focus on India pride projects, “India is truly my faith” says Gujral.
Over the last decade, the Gujral Foundation has supported 150+ artists and 50+ exhibitions in India and internationally. Key projects include My East is Your West - a collateral event at the 56th Venice Biennale, curated by Feroze, produced and presented by the Foundation. The foundation has also commissioned projects for Contour Biennale 8, the 11th Shanghai Biennale, the 8th Berlin Biennale, the London Design Biennale and Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Most recently the first architectural pavilion titled ‘The Song of the Earth and the Sky’ was displayed in the revitalized gardens of Sunder Nursery, New Delhi. They have supported numerous projects by other organizations including ‘V. S. Gaitonde at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, ‘Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company’ at The Wallace Collection in the UK, Colomboscope – Sea Change in Sri Lanka etc.
The Foundation has strong educational institutional partnerships with CEPT University and Shiv Nadar University, National Institute of Fashion Technology as well as other cultural institutions including Goethe-Institut, The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, Pro-Helvetia, Japan Foundation, Danish Art Foundation and The Institute français en Inde.
Feroze has also been a funding patron for several years of artist grants, awards and prizes including the Gujral Foundation Excellence Award at CEPT University, annual prizes at National Institute of Fashion Technology. They also sponsor an art and a soccer prize at Gordonstoun School, UK.
Feroze Gujral is regarded as one of India's leading art patrons. She was previously on the international board of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Serpentine Gallery in London, and the advisory board of IGNCA, New Delhi. She is currently on the board of Kochi Muziris Biennale of which she is a Founding Patron.
Apart from the arts, the Gujral's have had a long-standing history of patronage and a number of initiatives have been started by the family post-partition including a school, orphanage, home for destitute women and the Pushpa Gujral Science City, all in Jalandhar, Punjab. Apart from that they are also founder supporters of the forum for street children in Hyderabad, which includes a home for destitute boys that was started in 1989 by Feroze's mother. They also support various other NGOs like Nanhi Chaun, Save the Children and White Ribbon. Feroze has for many years also been part of the young parliamentarian's initiative for malnutrition.
Feroze Gujral apart from being a very successful, well recognized model and media personality is also a successful businesswoman. She ran a design studio called Fizzaro dealing in fine bone china products and customized table accessories, exporting to multiple countries. She was a founding partner of Broadcast India, the first live broadband streaming platform in India. Currently she is the Director of Design Plus, an architecture and design company, founded by her architect and real estate developer husband Mohit Gujral, and Founder Director of the international art design consultancy FMG advisors.
Feroze was also an ambassador for World Wildlife Fund, with a particular interest in the welfare of the Indian elephant. She is a volunteer for Teach for India and the curator for TEDx Delhi. She has also been brand ambassador and advisor to numerous leading international fashion brands including Burberry, Gucci, Tod's etc.
As a contemporary cultural commentator, she has contributed multiple articles to leading publications including The Indian Express, Financial Chronicle, Seminar, Vogue, Elle and Condé Nast Traveller amongst others. She was also host of her own TV show ‘Tonight with Feroze’.

Media

Gujral began her career as a model at the age of 18. She has featured on the multiple covers including Elle and Vogue, and has endorsed luxury brands like She has anchored a television show called Tonight with Feroze.
She has been a columnist for Indian Express, Deccan Chronicle and Vogue, a pioneer of TEDx India and curator for TEDx Delhi, and also been a guest lecturer at the National Institute of Fashion Technology.

Philanthropy

Gujral is regarded as one of India's leading art patrons. She is on the international board of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Serpentine Gallery in London, and the advisory board of IGNCA, New Delhi.
She founded the Gujral Foundation in 2008 along with her husband Mohit Gujral, a philanthropic foundation which funds public projects on art, architecture, design and culture. Over the years, the foundation has supported many national and international projects, including the Kochi-Muzuris Biennale 2012–2018, My East is Your West at the 56th Venice Biennale, Contour Biennale 8, 11th Shanghai Biennale, 8th Berlin Biennale, VS Gaitonde: Painting As Process, Painting As Life exhibition at the Guggenheim New York, Desire Machine Collective at The British Museum.
Of special note is the Kochi-Muziris Biennale for which she is founding patron, and instrumental in securing the main venues of the Biennale: Aspinwall House and Cabral Yard. Also, in 2015, the Gujral Foundation along with a few other partners presented a collateral event at the 56th Venice Biennale titled My East Is Your West, which not only marked India's presence at the event but also saw a unique shared presentation between India's Shilpa Gupta and Pakistan's Rashid Rana, bringing together the conflicting nations through art.
Gujral has been an ambassador for Save The Children and WWF, and supports Teach for India. She along with her husband, also support long-standing initiatives started by the family post-partition. This includes a school, an orphanage and home for destitute women. She also supports forums for street children started by Vikar Ewari in Hyderabad, Telangana.