MUMBAI.- Art Deco Alive! is a first-of-its-kind, twin-city festival across Miami and Mumbai marking a hundred years of the Art Deco movement of architecture and design. Home to the largest clusters of Deco structures anywhere in the world, the two cities share an architectural legacy defined by bold geometry, technological innovations, and the pursuit of modern living.

The first edition of Art Deco Alive! will take place in Mumbai from November 6th to 25th following the Miami edition in October.

Its centenary museum exhibition – Ocean Drive To Marine Drive: Mapping a Century of Deco | Miami Beach-Mumbai (1925-2025) – celebrates Miami and Mumbai’s unique cultural and visual kindredness in the year that marks a century of The Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes; the 1925 Paris design show that gave the movement its name and identity. Relying on a rich mix of academic research, multimedia, archival photographs, oral history narratives, and an exclusive display of rare Deco artefacts and furniture handpicked from private collections, Ocean Drive to Marine Drive hopes to make connections between material objects, spaces, urban heritage and social history by spotlighting the pioneering Deco practices across the ‘City of Dreams’ and the ‘Billion-Dollar Sandbar’.

A day-long Symposium that drives conversations around heritage advocacy in a new developing India, promoting diversity of cultural expressions and the creative economy brings together leading voices in architecture, policy making, academia, and the arts.

An accessible, public-facing cultural festival, Art Deco Alive! will host a series of allied programmes across Mumbai’s Art Deco neighbourhoods and addresses, including expert talks, guided walks, documentary screenings, music and design workshops for children and adults, furniture-jewellery-fashion showcases, retail edits spotlighting modern interpretations of the timeless style, retro food-and-drink popups, and a neighborhood celebration centred around Churchgate.

Founded by Mumbai-based entrepreneur Smiti Kanodia, along with Miami-based co-founders Salma Merchant Rahmathulla and Gayatri Hingorani Dewan, the Art Deco Alive! festival celebrates the spirit of creativity across continents while reinforcing preservation, education and collaboration. Smiti Kanodia is an entrepreneur and cultural enthusiast who published Time Out magazine in Mumbai for over 15 years, shaping the city’s cultural and lifestyle narrative.

Partnering with Art Deco Alive! in the endeavour to honour Mumbai’s built heritage is Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum.

Joining this initiative is The Taj Mahal Palace, an institution that is central to the city’s cultural fabric and cosmopolitan spirit, representing a rich narrative of both tradition and modernity. Mumbai’s legacy institutions Phillips Antiques, Kamdar Furniture, Gaylord restaurant, The Ambassador Hotel and the iconic Eros theatre come together to make this a meaningful coalition.

In celebrating the Art Deco centenary across two continents, Art Deco Alive! goes beyond architecture – it invites communities to reimagine their cities, honour cultural memory, and envision a future where heritage and progress co-exist and thrive.

In a landmark partnership, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, the city’s oldest museum and a leading institution in heritage and cultural preservation partners with Art Deco Alive! in Mumbai (November 6th - 25th, 2025) to present Ocean Drive to Marine Drive: Mapping A Century of Deco | Miami Beach-Mumbai (1925-2025). The exhibition is curated by Atul Kumar, Founder-Trustee, Art Deco Mumbai Trust, and partnered by pioneering preservation organisations Miami Design Preservation League and Art Deco Mumbai Trust.

Mumbai is home to flamboyant picture palaces, stately public buildings and quaint private residences characteristic of the style. South Mumbai’s Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2018 is vindication of the city’s desire to hold onto to its architectural diversity. Miami has the South Beach masterpieces, fronted by its charming hotels. This exhibition offers a global overview while focussing on the Mumbai and Miami juxtaposition through a spotlight on local visionaries including Mumbai’s Master, Sathe & Bhuta, Perin J Mistri and NG Pansare, and Miami’s Henry Hohauser and Barbara Capitman.

“We are delighted to partner with Art Deco Alive to present this exhibition at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum. As the city’s oldest museum, it has been a witness to the many changes and transformations the city has undergone and today stands as a guardian of its culture and heritage. This exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the significance of the city’s Art Deco buildings and the shared responsibility of preserving this legacy we have inherited,” says Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, Managing Trustee & Director, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum