Auto Chaos 


A collaboration with Taxi Fabric and Architectural Digest India to redesign the interior fabric of the local Mumbai Rickshaws.












Mumbai’s charm lies in its chaos. With its overwhelming smells, loud noises, bold colours and bizarre sights, the city consumes you in its daily hustle bustle. Yet, oddly enough, you find that this cacophony has an order to it. Somehow, it all falls in place to shape a unique pattern of life in the city.

This ‘organised chaos’ is what prompted Aniruddh to tell a similar visual story with his new Taxi Fabric. He says, “I looked at Architecture from a broader spectrum, using design elements that would transform the interiors into a kaleidoscopic, geometric world.” This busy mix of bold patterns, intricate household tiles, geometric lines echoes the city’s hubbub. “Mumbai is also home to Bollywood and everything else that is visually loud; and I think Auto Chaos would fit in just right,” he explains.

The tradition of household patterns and bold decorations is drawn from India’s rich cultural history. Aniruddh believes that they are styles which are prominent in our traditional aesthetics.    











“When we look back, we can see that art and design are deeply embedded in us - from ancient architecture to traditional textiles to beautiful intricate sculptures. We are also known for our love to decorate everything, whether it's our homes, temples, gods or our vehicles.”

While, this combination of patterned tiles work and geometric tessellations, as Aniruddh feels, will always be relatable in India, there has been a considerable shift in their demand. Dictated by changing social trends and western influences, our fast-paced lives and multi-storey high rises call for marble and ceramic tiles over the traditional ones. These intricate patterns and bold geometric forms that reflect our culture and lifestyles are slowly reducing their footprint in modern day India.

Speaking of cultural inspiration, Aniruddh says, “India is a culturally colourful and diverse country - it has its inspiration knitted in its details.” It is these details and decoration that have lost their charm in an age where the fad of minimalism and functionality is taking over. To emphasise more on the importance of these patterns and forms, Aniruddh decided to go with a black and white combination for his design.








Words taken from TaxiFabric.org,  written by Isha Jhunjhunwala.
Images courtesy : Architectural Digest India, Neville Sukhia and Siddharth Samant.