Crumpled City Maps

This could be the invention of the century. Maybe. The Crumpled City Map reinterprets an object which, historically, has been synonymous with exacting precision and manual skills: the map. Actually, maps must be opened, folded to find what we are interested in and then foldedaway, preferably along the original folds of the paper.But, how often are such operations difficult and frustrating? Especially when we arelost and have to pull out of our pockets or our bag a map that often, through use andthe difficulty of folding it, has turned into a mass of wet, swollen paper, which forces usto engage in impossible exercises in the art of “origami” to consult it and finally get ourbearings!

These are the reflections around which the Crumpled City Maps have been designed:maps that are soft, extremely light but very strong, perfectly waterproof, designed to bequickly put away in their bag, without having to be folded but just scrunched up, rolled upinto a ball. Crumpled City, indeed.At the core of the design is this ‘playing’ with gestures: this allowing people to dosomething that is usually “forbidden”, that is to simply scrunch up a document. It is aliberating, fun act, especially if you do it with something that you are not going to throwaway, but which is actually made to be kept and reused.

Map Size: 87×58 cm. Available versions: Rome, London, New York, Paris, Berlin. Along with the usual ‘SightSeeings’, each map also provides a unique, unusual listof ‘SoulSights’, places of the soul, places selected to thrill you. Design by Emanuele Pizzolorusso.