In Mumbai, India—a city of nearly 19 million people—over 50,000 taxis pick up at least 25 to 30 people every day. For the majority of Mumbaikars, the iconic black and yellow taxis are the most convenient form of transportation in the city. And now a new vehicle of design, dialogue, and a sense of belonging – thanks to the Taxi Fabric project.
Designer Sanket Avlani started the initiative that asks emerging Indian designers to create textile designs for the inside of the city’s cabs. The project connects designers with taxi drivers to brighten up the taxi’s interiors and showcase the work of local designers. By giving designers an opportunity for their work to be seen by thousands throughout the city, it aims to bring awareness to design as a profession in a culture that often takes the potential impact of art and design for granted.
In Mumbai, the taxi system is regulated by the government and taxi unions, but most of the cabs are owned or rented by individuals. Even for rented vehicles, Avlani says, the upkeep of the car’s interior is left to the driver, most of whom decorate their cabs with trinkets and rosary beads but pay little mind to the make or design of the seat fabric. Decking out their interiors with bold, colorful patterns not only adds character, it also makes the cab recognizable to passengers.
Avlani is a graphic designer, as are most of the designers he’s worked with on the project so far, so he consulted with textile designers to figure out which fabric was best to use. After considering the practical elements—how long it will last, how it will hold up against dirt and water—he settled on a polyester-blend that looks and feels like canvas. Once the design is finished, it’s transfered onto fabric using special heat sensitive dyes through sublimation. The fabric is then handed over to a tailor who handles the upholstery and sews on a fabric tag with the name of the designer and the sponsor.
As the project continues, Avlani wants to use it as a means for students and young designers to have their work shown around the city. He feels that right now, Mumbai doesn’t take design as a profession seriously, and is losing talent to other countries as a result. Avlani himself left Mumbai for London to work as an art director and designer for the advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy. “There is this whole thing about artistic professions [in India]. It’s like how music was a few decades ago—there are all of these misconceptions and preconceived notions. It really becomes one of those niche professions and one that nobody understands at all,” says Avlani. “My parents don’t even fully understand what I do.”
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