Bharat Floorings & Tiles paves the way with landmark exhibition at Chatterjee & Lal art gallery in Mumbai

Paving the Way, an exhibition by Bharat Floorings & Tiles (BFT) Pvt. Ltd. at Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai, drew attention to a hitherto untold story from the annals of Indian design and enterprise. Through extensive research and rare archival exhibits, it recounted the history of an almost century-old company that is linked to many of the city’s heritage structures.
In 1922, BFT set up a factory in Uran, near Mumbai, to manufacture handmade, artisanal cement tiles for the rapidly-expanding Indian market. They started, faltered, learnt, grew in size and repertoire – to turn into the silent behemoth we see today. The exhibition chronicles this story of a home-grown enterprise and how it moulded itself to reflect the changing tastes and trends of the times.
The exhibition begins with the genre ‘Tapestry in Cement, set in 1922, when BFT produced patterned tiles to discourage imports. They responded to the growing Art Deco influence, seen in ‘The Moderne Home’. In ‘Commercial Elegance’, BFT shifted to marble as Mumbai, then Bombay, evolved into the country’s financial capital, in contrast to the personalised murals created for the ubiquitous Bombay bungalow, as seen in ‘Floors to your Taste’. The Heritage Renaissance module was enlivened by an audio-visual display that showcased the recent work done on the flooring of the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue – a restoration project by architect Abha Narain Lambah.
Each genre had a 3D printed façade of the building and a sample tile from the BFT archive.
The final day of the exhibition began with a heritage walk to trace the histories of trade and design in late colonial Bombay. The event concluded with Beyond the Façade, a panel discussion between Mustansir Dalvi and Abigail McGowan, moderated by Sidharth Bhatia. 
Indeed, Paving the Way is an intersection of the histories of design and business, exhibited by BFT as their centenary year approaches.