Tberfil – the Maltese version of striping - has been around for many years but with the advances in technology and the digitalization of artworks and signages, the trade (along with many other traditional ones) redirected towards extinction.

The artwork took centre stage on work trucks but featured predominantly on the old Maltese buses – those rickety, sunshine yellow coaches that encapsulate most of our childhood transits.

With the scrappage of the beautiful but slightly unreliable buses, tberfil also took a hit but a proposed reworking of public transport incorporating features from the traditional bus system with a more sustainable element seems to be creating a resurgence of public interest in tberfil.

The envisioned concept for an electric fleet of buses, generated by Mizzi Studios, is set for launch this Friday at Triton Square, Valletta. A film narrative about the public transport proposal will also debut on the day and it will feature none other than Joey, a tberfil artist whose positivity, charm and skill have seen him become the face of the trade.

In the 2-minute teaser, we can see Joey carefully and painstakingly injecting character to a traditional bus with his brush and petrol-infused paint. Despite tberfil being considered as a dying trade, Joey has nothing but gratitude for the art form that has earned him his bread and butter all throughout his life.

The event will kick off on Friday 11th October at 8pm at Triton Square. Will you be attending?