A Museum on wheels
Design Museum Dharavi is a new cultural institution that celebrates the creative potential of Dharavi, a homegrown neighbourhood located in the heart of Mumbai, India.
Design Museum Dharavi
In February 2016 the museum opened its doors in Dharavi, a 3sq km home-grown neighbourhood located in the heart of Mumbai. Around 1 million people live here, and despite the tough conditions of their surroundings, they are capable of creating, designing, manufacturing and commercializing all kinds of goods. Design Museum Dharavi is a platform for these products and their makers, so they can be recognised by the local community, the city of Mumbai and the rest of the world. The main mission of Design Museum Dharavi is to employ design as a tool to promote social change and innovation, and to challenge the negative perception of informal settlements around the world.
So much more
Over the past decades, local makers, entrepreneurs and innovators have contributed to turn Dharavi into a story of success and self-improvement. This so-called ‘slum’ (a word we must eradicate) has little to do with the kind of apocalyptic imagery sold to the world in blockbuster movies and tabloids. Despite many thriving communities of talented workers who have made Dharavi their home for generations, this neighbourhood is inexplicably still perceived as an eyesore by many Mumbaikars as well as the rest of the world. The Design Museum Dharavi aims to establish new links between Dharavi and the rest of the city, promoting a greater exchange through a cultural program that features several workshops and exhibitions. Our mission is to focus on Dharavi’s potential and, through design, showcase it as what it really is: an exciting and promising creative community, full of potential and room for development.
Design Museum Dharavi is an initiative by Jorge Mañes Rubio (Seethisway) and Amanda Pinatih (MADE Pinatih), an artist and curator based in Amsterdam.
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This project is supported by
