So, what is Art Deco Alive Mumbai?
It’s what happens when Mumbai and Miami, two cities built on sea views and swagger, decide to celebrate 100 years of Art Deco. Art Deco Alive! isn’t some polite heritage event. It’s a twin-city festival that makes design history feel alive again.
After debuting in Miami, the festival lands in Mumbai this November (6–25, 2025). It’s lighting up the city’s Deco landmarks with exhibitions, talks, walks, and creative takeovers that make you see familiar buildings in a completely new way.
What to expect
At the center of it all is Ocean Drive to Marine Drive: Mapping a Century of Deco (1925–2025), a landmark exhibition at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum.
Curated by Atul Kumar of the Art Deco Mumbai Trust and created with the Miami Design Preservation League, the show draws a line between two coastal cities that couldn’t be more different, yet somehow share the same design DNA.
Expect a mix of archival photos, old-school glamour, oral histories, and a few unexpected finds. From furniture, to film clips, and perhaps a moment of nostalgia that hits harder than you thought it would.
Outside the museum
This isn’t the kind of festival that stays inside white walls. Across Mumbai, Art Deco Alive! will spill into streets and spaces with heritage walks, talks, film screenings, design workshops, and retro food-and-drink pop-ups. There’ll be fashion and furniture showcases, music, and even a neighborhood celebration in Churchgate, where Deco lives its best life.
The whole idea: make history social again.
Who’s behind it?
The festival comes from Smiti Kanodia, the Mumbai-based entrepreneur who once ran Time Out Mumbai and has always known how to turn culture into conversation. She’s joined by Salma Merchant Rahmathulla and Gayatri Hingorani Dewan in Miami, two women who see design as a bridge, not a border.
“Miami and Mumbai are cities that never stop reinventing themselves,” Kanodia says. “But the places that carry history — that’s what keeps a city’s soul alive.”
A few familiar names
Backing the festival are some of Mumbai’s best-known institutions: The Taj Mahal Palace, Phillips Antiques, Kamdar Furniture, Gaylord, The Ambassador Hotel, and Eros Theatre. Each of which is a chapter in the city’s own design story.
And the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum isn’t just a host; it’s a co-conspirator. “Our Deco buildings aren’t just beautiful,” says Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, the museum’s director. “They’re part of who we are — and preserving them means keeping that identity alive.”
Why it matters
This year marks a hundred years since Art Deco got its name at a Paris design fair. But this festival isn’t about looking back. It’s about how style moves forward, how cities evolve without losing their edge. Art Deco Alive! is here to reminds us that heritage doesn’t have to feel heavy. It can be playful, alive, and part of the everyday.
Because Deco, like Mumbai, has always known how to mix glamour with grit. And somehow make it work.
Art Deco Alive Mumbai: From Ocean to Marine Drive
November 6–25, 2025
Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
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