Bengaluru - Decorative Auto-rickshaw art

The autorickshaw didn’t come fully made from the factory, it needed to be taken to a workshop to be fitted with a roof and to get the seats upholstered, this basic requirement has evolved into a craft cluster. Over two decades ago, autorickshaws were decorated with paintings at the rear window and posters or rexine-clad interiors and now, it is has become a separate industry concentrated in six hubs across the city – Nagawara, Shivaji Nagar, Mysore Road, Krishnaraja Market, Neelsandra and Krishnarajapuram. It has over time developed its own visual language that is eclectic and hybrid in expression representing the collaborative spirit of the making. These hubs are a cluster of auto financiers, brokers, spare parts and motor accessories shops, upholstery establishments, welders, tinkers, film poster painters, vinyl stickering artists and metal fabricators.

The final beautiful product is the working together of a network of liners, welders, tinkers, film poster painters, vinyl stickering artists, metal fabricators and craftsmen. The art on these autorickshaws spans floral decorative patterns, national and regional sentiments, family names, religious and popular cinema iconography as well as quirky one-liners like “Love is sweet poison”. The practitioners of this artform, or liners, who create the canopy roof also create interiors of the autorickshaws using rexine as the base material and the elaborate designs and patterns are a result of techniques such as appliqué, quilting and piping.

Today, the decorative autorickshaw art involves a lot of manipulating of different fabrics besides rexine, patterning, stitching, and quilting. It even includes electrical work and metal fabrication, at times. The resulting design of the autorickshaw is a collaborative process between the owner of the vehicle and the liner, the name given to these skilled practitioners. It is the result of constant negotiation between the skill of the liner, the budget, the availability and possibility of the fabrics.