Maps can imply a host of different things to different people at different times. Coordinates, scales, projections, dimensions and labels all help to convey a multitude of different layers. But they are always a reflection of dreams and exploaration. Mapperia’s aim is to disassemble the many different angles of space while letting the mind wander: With intricately layered maps, laser cut from paper. 

For hundreds of years, humankind has been undertaking to depict the real world with the help of maps for the purpose of education, navigation and scientific research. Amongst the possessions of the British Museum is what is considered one of the earliest maps in existence, the Babylonian “Imago Mundi”, found in Sippar, Iraq, dated 700 BC. When tools for exact measurements were still unavailable, the imagination of artists and craftspeople was all the more important as illustrated in the Ebstorf map from around 1200 AD, still to be admired in a convent in Northern Germany, including very creative depictions of wild animals and buildings. 

In the following centuries, the quest for a precise representation was dominant. More recently powerful data visualization became possible thanks to the availability of satellite and geographic data.

But maps can be much more than the closest possible image of our surroundings assisting us to navigate the world. They equally invite the viewer to see familiar places from surprising angles, to discover far flung territories and unique habitats or to delve into treasured memories, thanks to the tools that scientists, cartographers and mapmakers have at their fingertips.