NGMA Mumbai, Ministry of Culture, Government of India and Avid Learning present Multipolis Mumbai: Heritage and the City – Reviving Traditional Interior Design and Textiles a panel discussion on how heritage design elements are being rejuvenated and updated in our city today.

This discussion will take a closer look at the design and lifestyle trends that are consciously based in the past but updated for the contemporary consumer. Looking at brands, products and stylistic traditions, especially from the iconic Swadeshi Era in our country’s history that are now making a come back in Indian lifestyles, this panel will revisit history and try to shed light on our design trajectory from Swadeshi to Make in India, from a derivative colonial aesthetic to an updated and sophisticated design lexicon, from impositions of ‘superior’ western ways of life to a celebration of the grace of Indian living. From the Bombay of old to a decidedly sophisticated Mumbai of today that defines itself on its own terms.

Join Founder and CEO, Adventures in Art Karen Stone Talwar, Vice Chairman at Bharat Tiles Firdaus Variava, Furniture Designer and Co-Founder at BARO Siddharth Sirohi, and President-Apparel at Raymond Group Gaurav Mahajan who will be in conversation with Handicrafts Artist and Founder at Amba Hema Shroff Patel.

This talk will centre on how these professionals, practitioners and visionaries are taking the best of Swadeshi lifestyle products, interior finishes and design traditions and updating them for a chic Mumbai of today, with a decided nod to the traditions of old.

How are Minton Tiles, Terrazzo finishes and poured concrete being used to convey a modern heritage look in restaurants, homes and public spaces in Mumbai? How are colonial furniture finishes being updated for stylish, contemporary consumers? How are brands like Raymond reviving textile traditions like khadi- to be used in contemporary dressing? This discussion will also touch upon heritage entrepreneurship and explore best practices from remarkable initiatives from the West that are promoting cultural tourism in India.

The Swadeshi Movement, first started in 1905 in response to British degradation of the National spirit, was a rallying cry to make products and goods locally with a sense of pride and excellence. Swadeshi, essentially, was about reinvigorating craft as a way of expressing freedom. This discussion is a wonderful opportunity to understand how political history shaped our design movements and identities.

Textiles have long played a part in defining cultural and national identity. Mahatma Gandhi believed hand spinning and weaving of khadi was essential to India’s economic development and freedom from colonial domination, developing this belief into the political movement of Swadeshi.

This talk will be part of our Multipolis Mumbai Series that decodes the past while looking to the future and finding novel ways of engaging, interacting with and reenergizing the city that we love! In this second round we seek to plumb new depths and unearth more fascinating nuggets about our ever-surprising Mumbai! This series was begun and had a successful run in 2012 and we revived it in June 2017. In the second iteration, we seek to go deeper! We've had panels on the re-haul of our historic precincts, the role of the business families of Bombay, Art Deco in the City and looking at the city through a child's eyes. We then facilitated discussions around how art institutions and practitioners in the city are harnessing the power of tech, how poets and women writers engage with and write about the city, about wildlife in the city and the role of technology in protection of local bio-diversity, and a discussion delving into the virtual and digital world of gaming, its relationship with art and the gaming culture in the city. We also held a workshop that looked more closely at celebrated classical architecture (namely Indo Saracenic and Victorian Gothic) of one of our oldest heritage precincts. We also recently held panels on the role of philanthropic individuals and institutions and on mapping towns within the city.

This year marks 150 years since the birth of Mahatma Gandhi and with this panel we endeavor to honour his revival and support of the Swadeshi way of life. Join us to reconnect with our colonial history which in turn is deeply related to the history of the design and crafts movement in India. Learn about Mumbai’s role in the movement and how its design language is still being shaped by pride in the local even today. Understand how we define our heritage and national identities in today’s times of global influence, social media and cross-pollination.