Natalie Lake, a graphic designer from Toronto combines the love she has for geography and art to make customizable maps of local neighbourhoods.
The simple black and white prints are available in three different sizes and include detailed street names.
To give the maps a special touch, she sometimes adds a red heart where the customer's home location is and people seem to love that. Normally people choose to pinpoint their homes but it could also be for an office, favourite coffee spot, etc.
This came to fruition from a personal art project she worked on in 2016 for her and her family's first home in Leslieville, a neighbourhood in Toronto.
She thought a map pinpointing their new home would be a cool piece to display.
When she completed that map, she thought to design other neighbourhoods to give to her friends as housewarming gifts. She was inspired to keep designing more neighbourhoods, so she would spend the day at her local coffee shop creating a new neighbourhood each day.
Lake currently does over 30 different neighbourhoods around Toronto, as well as neighbourhood maps for five other cities including Ottawa, Vancouver and New York.
Over the past four years, Natalie has sold her prints at local flea markets, art shows and shops, as well as online. People have even started purchasing maps of their past neighbourhoods, as well as their present neighbourhoods.
Whether it’s reminiscing on the old neighbourhood you grew up in or marking all of your favourite spots near your current home - you can customize any map, how you would like, on the website.