Three scooters transformed into unique pieces by the masters of Cinabro Carrettieri of Ragusa Ibla who have transferred the colors and tradition of the Sicilian cart. The Art on Wheels project, presented by TVS Motor Italia as a meeting between urban mobility and artisanal culture, may not remain just an exercise in style: among the hypotheses under study there is also that of creating decal kits inspired by the three hand-decorated examples, to be applied to the scooters in the range
TVs Motor Italia presented a project different from the usual product launch. No road test, no technical sheet at center stage, but three scooters that have become narrative objects: three Jupiter 125 TVs transformed by the Sicilian masters of Cinabro Carrettieri into unique pieces, inspired by the decorative tradition of the Sicilian cart. The initiative, called “Art on Wheels – Where innovation meets culture”, was born with a fairly clear objective, to make the Indian brand TVS known in Italy not only through the product, but also through a language closer to the sensitivity of our market. In a country where the scooter has always been much more than a practical vehicle for getting around the city, the idea is to linking daily mobility to an imaginary made of style, colours, craftsmanship and local identity.
Not just decoration
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The starting point is the Sicilian cart, born as a means of work and over time becoming a true traveling canvas. Over the years, epic scenes, religious motifs, popular tales, chivalric figures, landscapes and floral decorations have found space on the banks, panels and wheels. A functional object, therefore, capable of transforming itself into a story. TVS has tried to transfer this logic to a modern scooter. A choice that is not obvious, because the risk of such an operation is to stop at the surface, limiting oneself to “dressing up” a mass-produced vehicle with ornamental motifs. The difference, in this case, is made by the involvement of Cinabro Carrettieri, a shop in Ragusa Ibla that has been working for years on the continuity of the Sicilian cart tradition, without reducing it to simple folklore.
the touch of Cinnabar
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The three Jupiter 125s were designed by Damiano Rotella and Biagio Castilletti, artisans who have already collaborated with brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Bialetti, Smeg and Birra Messina. But beyond prestigious collaborations, their work remains linked to traditional tools and gesturesusing natural pigments, ox hair brushes, slow workmanship, and great attention to detail. Applying this language to a scooter required profound adaptation. The cart offers flat surfaces and large spaces, almost naturally designed to accommodate images. The Jupiter 125, on the other hand, has compact volumes, curved surfaces, plasticity and proportions of a contemporary urban vehicle. For this reason the work was not limited to the reproduction of existing motifs, but required a true reinterpretation: understanding where to place the scenes, how to follow the curves of the bodywork, how to make decoration and industrial form coexist. And use new techniques, without however giving up the basic technique, which always involves the use of oil colours, rigorously diluted with raw linseed oil.
Three scooters, three languages
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The three examples created are not simple chromatic variations, but three different readings of Sicilian figurative culture. The first Jupiter 125 takes up the Catania style of the cart, with rich decoration, bright colours, acanthus leaves, floral and fruit motifs. On the sides appear scenes inspired byPuppet Operawith the Paladins of France in battle. It is the most narrative interpretation, the one that directly recalls the popular tradition of the cart as a means of transport capable of bringing stories, heroes and legends to the streets. The second scooter instead looks at eighteenth-century ceramics from Caltagironewith a palette dominated by greens, yellows and blues. Here the reference is less epic and more ornamental: majolica, gardens, courtyards, Mediterranean landscapes. The effect is brighter, and conveys a sunny Sicily, built on the strength of color and the memory of ceramic craftsmanship. The third example is inspired by Sicilian Baroquewith scrolls, masks and griffins, on a base dominated by the depth of the guarantee lacquer. The reference is to the artistic season born after the earthquake of 1693, when many cities in eastern Sicily were rebuilt, transforming the destruction into one of the most spectacular pages of Italian architecture.
An Italian poster
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These three Jupiter 125s were not created to become series products. They are unique pieces, created to tell a possible way of interpreting the presence of TVS in our market. The operation therefore has an above all symbolic value, it serves to position the brand not only as a global two-wheel manufacturer, but as a company interested in building a dialogue with Italian culture. It is an ambitious path, because the Italian scooter market has very strong references and a deeply rooted memory. But precisely for this reason the initiative makes sense: instead of limiting itself to proposing a rational alternative in terms of price, practicality or equipment, TVS also tries to work on the imagination. And it does so starting from a language which, despite being far from contemporary urban mobility, has one of its most authentic roots in movement.
unique pieces and replicas
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The most interesting part is that Art on Wheels may not remain an isolated episode. TVS Motor Italia is in fact evaluating how to exploit the initiative even beyond the size of the event and the three hand-decorated examples. One of the possibilities being studied is the creation of decal kits inspired by the three Jupiter 125s designed by Cinabro Carrettierito be applied to scooters. It would be a way to make at least part of the project accessible, transforming an operation born as a craft exercise into an element of personalization closer to the public. Naturally, a sticker kit can never have the value or depth of a decoration handmade by the masters of Cinabro. But it could represent an interesting bridge between the uniqueness of artisanal work and the world of mass production. After all, even the Sicilian cart lived on this balance: each example was different, but belonged to a recognizable, shared, popular language.
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