Today we love: Nick's Bespoke Maps
Our young folks are dynamic in the face of adversity! Take history graduate Nick van Oosterom, who's finding success with his unique one-man map drawing business
Nick van Oosterom graduated from Edinburgh University and like many graduates, found job hunting in a pandemic to be a nightmare. He's always enjoyed drawing and looking at maps, plus he's a bit of Lord of the Rings nerd, so he found himself drawing folkloric maps as a way of keeping busy in lockdown. Family and friends were very enthusiastic about them, commissioning him to draw maps of places they loved. The upshot is Nick's Bespoke Maps, which already has a backlog of orders
Is there a corner of the country, or indeed the world, that's special to you? Or one that fascinates you, historically or geographically? Nick's Bespoke Maps offers a service of drawing ink maps of places specified by you. So far he's drawn Yorkshire, areas of France and recent commissions incude mapping the Amalfi coast.
Hand-drawn in black ink on fine, thick Bristol Paper, Nick's maps combine two key features - an accurate representation of physical geography (focusing on the topography, vegetation and waterways of the area) and a bespoke folkloric element, bringing a slight medieval character to the maps.
Nick, who lives in north London, says he's delighted people like his maps: 'I suppose I got really interested in maps when I did a course on medieval maps last year at Edinburgh. I started by experimenting with tracing the outline of a map on tracing paper and then filling in the area using ink and putting in medieval-style writing. I've developed my style and am honing my skills, so if people have a part of the world they'd like mapped for them, they should get in touch.'
And plenty of people already have, to the extent that Nick isn't able to fulfil new orders until spring 2021.
Email: nicholasvanoosterom@gmail.com or search 'nicksbespokemaps' on instagram. Prices from £60 + delivery. Sizes A4, A3, A2. Limited edition prints are available.
