HB’s ‘Young Love’ blends slow fashion with sculpted leather and silk, redefining quiet luxury for a new generation.
With quiet luxury becoming a buzzword in the world of design, HB, helmed by Harkaran Boparai and Sukhleen Kaur, stands out. Fulfilling the mandate of modern elegance, this homegrown design studio offers a curated collection of lifestyle pieces that include silk scarves, sculpted wallets and other lifestyle accessories aimed at a discerning clientele. The brand’s debut collection is titled ‘Young Love’, as it explores the emotional layers behind the exigencies of modern living. “Drawing from the quiet confidence of Parisian ateliers, ‘Young Love’ reflects a new generation’s yearning to find meaning in objects making them soulful, deliberate and enduring. This is luxury stripped of noise, returned to its purest form of care, craft and feeling,” explains Boparai.
To this, Kaur adds, “This is not luxury for the world to see but for the soul to feel. Born from the private intensity of love — the kind that deepens, matures and never fades — HB crafts objects that whisper rather than shout. Our pieces are designed for a lifetime, not just for a season. At a time when Gen Z is reshaping the codes of luxury by leaning into slow fashion, sustainability and emotional connection, we believe our brand emerges as one deeply attuned to the shift. For us, love isn’t just a muse, it is the material.” Co-founders Boparai and Kaur join the Sunday Guardian for an exclusive chat about their new collection. Excerpts from an edited interview:
Q. What is the Young Love collection about?
Harkaran Boparai (HB): Our brand HB is that love letter that you have written but never sent. HB is that bungalow from the 1980s that only plays jazz. It is reserved for the dreamers and the lovers, the rare ones who make a difference in the world and who are inspired by love and motivated by success. Sukhleen Kaur (SK): Young Love is HB’s inaugural ode to the first feelings of affection developed in one’s youth. It signifies a gentle reverie that lingers in the space between glances. It begins in a moment both fleeting and eternal, with two strangers catching each other’s eye and sensing time slow to a gentle hush. The collection captures that fragile moment and is HB’s love letter to intimacy, written in the language of sculpted nappa leather and shimmering mulberry silk. These materials were chosen for their tenderness and quiet strength. Our chosen colours drift from a rosy dawn palette to inky twilight, tracing the way affection deepens through day to night. Every curve is handcut and saddle-stitched by master artisans, ensuring each piece carries the intimacy of its making.
Q. How did you enter this field?
HB: I graduated with a gold medal in B.Arch from Guru Nanak Dev University and founded my studio in 2016. In the seven years since, I’ve delivered over 40,000sq ft of built work, designed a collectable furniture series and earned several national design accolades, including the IIID Delhi Design Excellence Award and a place in Architect & Interiors India’s HOT100. SK: I hold a Bachelor of Design (Fashion) from Guru Nanak Dev University and a Master of Fashion (Entrepreneurship) from RMIT Melbourne. Over the past decade, I’ve led operations at B-Free Australia, spanning Australia, India and the GCC and launched four ready-to-wear lines. Additionally, I served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at HBS, where I guided product and brand strategy.
Q. What products do you offer in the Young Love collection and why did you choose these products?
HB: We offer a multitude of products, with everything centred around the idea of passionate love. The ‘Young Love’ collection confines itself to two noble materials – calf leather and mulberry silk, because few fabrics convey tenderness and permanence with such clarity. Rounding out the narrative are softly structured leather wallets and card holders, whisper-light silk stoles, scarves and twillies. Soon, we will also offer woven carpets and handturned ceramics that invite you to touch them. We chose supple leather for its comforting strength and silk for its gentle caress, perfectly mirroring the tenderness and warmth of the feelings evoked by one’s first love.
Q. How would you describe your design philosophy?
SK: We measure luxury by intimacy, not spectacle. Every piece is guided by three values—emotional truth, material integrity and aesthetic rigour – so that a curve in leather or a hem in silk reads like a love letter in form and texture.
Q. How has the collection been received so far?
HB: ‘Young Love’ launched to wholehearted enthusiasm. Most pieces were spoken for before release and our growing community is already styling the bags and silks in ways that feel wholly their own. Watching the collection come alive in real-life stories affirms our belief in design as a shared language. We are deeply grateful for this and energised to bring future chapters to an audience that clearly understands and celebrates our vision.
Q. Where does your collection retail?
SK: Pieces from the collection can be acquired through our website, www. harkaranboparai.com or by scheduling a private appointment at the studio. Additionally, we are working towards unveiling our inaugural flagship in Delhi by yearend, with a Dubai boutique to follow soon after.
Q. You focus on slow fashion, sustainability and emotional connection. What is the importance of these tenets?
HB: We work closely with small-batch, master artisan networks. This allows time for the creation of exquisite handcrafted work and natural patina. Our sourcing is global yet thoughtful. Every component is carefully selected for its feel and character, with no shortcuts or mimicry. By respecting pace and provenance, we aim to create objects that speak stories rather than generate waste. They grow more beautiful with time as the love that inspired them matures. Noor Anand Chawla pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her blog www. nooranandchawla.com
