Frank&Frank develop their project through the creation of city maps on vegetable tanned leather.

Always fascinated by the maps of ancient explorers and by those present in the houses in some 17th century paintings, this project has an “ancient” sensibility but with a modern slant, destined to the sensibility of our time: for us, cartography is not an element “aseptic” but it represents the culture and beauty that each place expresses.

All the works are unique art-design objects with a high level of customization and open to specific thematic projects.

Cities have always been a territory of writing and give back the sense of time that passes, of cultures and eras that follow one another and of stratification as a wealth.

We create maps of cities around the world (small or large) by redesigning the urban structure point by point thanks to a process of reduction from the real satellite image to a structure made up of lines and spaces where the city emerges in its most pure. Drawing cities is an artistic process of reducing the image of the real city to an almost abstract structure: the result is a geometric mosaic in which everyday life and art meet.

The creation of these maps is the result of the curiosity and creativity of those who want to investigate the borders and territories in which our geography is oriented.

The realization takes place through modern laser technologies where in addition to cutting it is possible to engrave on the surface the name and terrestrial coordinates of the place or a precise point of the city. We use “vegetable tanned” leather dyed with vegetable tannins obtained from the trunk and bark of trees as a support. The extraction of these natural substances takes place in such a way as not to damage the wooden heritage as a waste from woodworking, the leather is colored with substances deriving from plants and flowers and for this with shades that make every single map always different and unique. They are biodegradable and hypoallergenic, free of chromium, metals and synthetic chemicals.

The map made with vegetable tanned leather is such a natural product that it can be appreciated and recognized for its small marks, veinings, for its non-uniform shades of colour. All these characteristics represent the authentic and tangible proof of a high quality product, which acquires value over time.