MUSTANSIR DALVI OPENS THIS SEMINAL EDITION WITH AN ESSAY ON HOW ART DECO SHAPED OUR EXPERIENCE OF MUMBAI-THEN AND TODAY.

For the last 80 years, these buildings have formed the backdrop to our lives.

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That is why, perhaps, they have, for the most part, gone unnoticed. They were, after all, all around us.

These sparsely ornamented yet colour-ful edifices, with curved corners, flying balconies and stepped stairwells, rise harmoniously on stretches of our cities’ roads. Occasionally set behind low compound walls with ornamental grilles or mostly opening onto the pavement directly, they rarely rise above four floors. Their well-composed fronts still hold quiet conversations with us—the pedestrians and citizens—and define our urbanity. And yet, it has taken us almost eight decades to recognise art deco in India as a significant architectural style that reshaped our cities.

Art deco emerged as an international style that valorised mobility in all its forms, reflecting the shapes of ocean liners, aircraft, motor cars and express trains. It is no surprise then that some of its earliest Indian patrons were the maharajas of princely states, who commissioned new buildings with contemporary features like air conditioning, elevators and designer furniture. The Umaid Bhawan in Jodhpur and Manik Bagh in Indore are harbingers of art deco in India, and a testament to the globetrotting, design-aware rulers like the Rathores and the Holkars.