Mumbai cabs are getting free makeovers thanks to the Taxi Fabric project

The towering arch of the Gateway of India. Dabbawallahs ferrying crates of lunch boxes. Tiny glass tumblers of chai. Kitschy and bright, these and other ubiquitous images of Mumbai pop culture – all created by up-and-coming local designers – are being splashed across the seats and interiors of some of the city’s once-threadbare taxis.

The brainchild of 28-year-old designer and art director Sanket Avlani, Taxi Fabric is a newly launched campaign offering free upholstery makeovers to cabs, inspired by his dependence on the iconic yellow-and-black cabs for his daily commute.

It was the ripped, dowdy seat covers that Avlani couldn’t stop thinking about and after blogging about the issue for a while, he realised that the logical step was “to design new ones”.

Avlani subsequently set up a team of like-minded people – creative producer Mahak Malik, and writers Girish Narayandass and Nathalie Gordon – and began to produce funky, durable seat covers, the first of which was crafted in April. The designs extend to the interior roof and door panels. It’s a win-win for everyone: the cab gets a free makeover and attracts more customers, while the designers get an opportunity to showcase their work to a huge audience.

Producing the t covers, which are made of polyester, costs about 15,000 rupees (Dh864) each. Avlani funded the first five makeovers, before starting a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. With two days left to go, the campaign has already surpassed its original target of 790,000 rupees and is well on its way to its stretch goal of 990,000, with 962,000 pledged. This will fund work with designers to decorate 30 cabs.

Because Taxi Fabric is not a cookie-cutter venture, only eight cabs have had a makeover so far – and with more than 50,000 taxis on the streets of Mumbai, it might be a little difficult to reach them all. But the list of interested cabbies and designers who want to take part is growing longer by the day.

“Honestly, I don’t think we can give every cab a makeover, but I do hope we can back every designer who has written in,” says Avlani. “Each curated design project is sensitively done and requires a lot of effort on the designer’s part before it gets finalised.” If the team can keep their promise to redo one vehicle every week, 15 will be added to the fleet by the end of the year.

Original article by Priti Salian

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Mumbai cabs are getting free makeovers thanks to the Taxi Fabric project