Meet the Founder

Where engineering precision meets timeless heritage.

Gayatri Packiarajan is the founder of Kundavai by Chella, a luxury heritage fashion house inspired by the artistic, architectural, and intellectual legacy of the Chola queens.

Professionally, she is a System Safety Engineer at Volvo Cars in Sweden, where she develops safety-critical systems for next-generation vehicles. With more than a decade of experience in systems engineering, functional safety, and product development, she has built her career around precision, structure, and thoughtful design.

Alongside engineering, Gayatri has dedicated nearly two decades to the study of Bharatanatyam, one of India's oldest classical dance traditions. As the founder of Chella Natyalaya in Gothenburg, Sweden, she teaches Bharatanatyam to the next generation while preserving its artistic, cultural, and philosophical foundations.

For Gayatri, Bharatanatyam is more than a performing art.

It is a living archive of South Indian history.

Temple architecture, royal jewellery, sculpture, symbolism, poetry, music, and movement all exist within the art form. Years of studying these traditions have given her a deep appreciation for the visual language of the Chola period—not only as history, but as a source of timeless design.

Kundavai by Chella was born where these two worlds meet.

The discipline of engineering brings research, precision, and systems thinking.

The practice of Bharatanatyam brings cultural understanding, artistic sensitivity, and historical depth.

Together, they shape every collection.

Rather than following seasonal trends, every design begins with months of studying Chola architecture, temple sculpture, royal ornaments, poetry, and symbolism before being translated into contemporary knitwear.

Her collections are not recreations of history.

They are modern interpretations designed for women who appreciate craftsmanship, heritage, and quiet confidence.

Living in Sweden also gave Gayatri a new perspective.

Surrounded by Scandinavian minimalism, she began asking a simple question:

How can Tamil heritage be expressed with the same timeless elegance and restraint?

That question became Kundavai by Chella.

Today, her vision is to build a globally recognised luxury heritage fashion house that preserves South India's artistic legacy through modern design—creating pieces that allow women to carry history with confidence, not as costume, but as everyday luxury.

Founder Philosophy

"Engineering taught me how to build with precision. Bharatanatyam taught me what was worth preserving. Kundavai by Chella is where those two worlds become one."

— Gayatri Packiarajan