Art Deco Mumbai


Art Deco Mumbai is a public charitable trust that has actively been involved in the process of spreading awareness about Mumbai's Art Deco heritage since May 2016. It is a digital initiative that uses social media and a website to showcase the built heritage. The website is the only repository of information on Art Deco in Mumbai in the public domain.
Since April 2018, Art Deco Mumbai Trust is a member of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies.
The organisation believes that documentation is a step towards preservation and that heritage is something that needs to be passed on from one generation to another. They aim to bring Art Deco heritage into Mumbai's mainstream dialogue on heritage and empower the different stakeholders to take conscious decisions.
Since its inception, the organisation has undertaken the documentation of art deco heritage in various neighbourhoods within Greater Mumbai. From October 2017 to January 2018, the organisation was commissioned by Mumbai Mirror to author a weekly column "Have a Decco" aimed at exploring the relationship of the city with the architectural style across neighbourhoods. As part of their outreach activities, the organisation also engages with different educational and cultural institutions of local and global relevance to spread awareness among the youth about this 20th century heritage.
For over a decade, founder trustee of the organisation have led stakeholder representation in the preparation of the UNESCO Nomination of "The Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai" which was successfully inscribed as a World Heritage Site on 30 June 2018. This nomination aims to safeguard a total of 94 buildings of which 76 are Art Deco. The organisation has incorporated hashtags #WHSOval and #WHSMarineDrive in their website inventory to ease search related to these art deco buildings.