This Indian urban designer-cartographer will map your favorite city for you

Sweta Mathur, an architect and faculty at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi, gifted her father-in-law a map of Vrindavan, Mathura, on his 90th birthday. It is a gift that he cherishes, that brought the memories alive and made his day.

“The map not only brought back memories of the place, but also of the elders in the family who are not around. Unlike a photograph, with a map you get to ‘explore’ the memories,” she says. Elements included in the map include the temples the family visited and the area’s art forms.

The map is made by Venna Sri Hari Kantha. The cartographer from Visakhapatnam is also an architect, an urban designer and his alumnus. Now studying at the University of Michigan, Venna’s maps are sold as art on websites such as Culture Shop, Desin Art and Art & Found. “Maps are important because they help us understand the development of the city. And it is difficult to read from old maps. Indian cities do not have detailed maps and making a map is a huge task,” he explains on a call.

A map of Kolkata that he created in 2018 as part of his Masters in Urban Design at the SPA was the beginning of Venna’s foray into cartography.

first break

Interestingly, the story of Venna’s map relates to Chennai. One of the first maps was of Chennai and MS Dhoni. It was a tribute to the former Indian team captain, who announced his retirement in August 2020. “I made a map of Chennai and Dhoni to show that he has retired from all forms of international cricket, but we can see him playing. Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The map, Chennai city with Dhoni’s face on it, was shared widely among CSK fans on Instagram and also on CSK’s official IG handle,” recalls Venna. The response to that map gave him an insight into how maps resonate with people — “that’s where my journey to customize maps began.” At the request of the fans, he made several maps for other IPL teams.

art in topography

According to Svetha, what makes Venna’s works special is how she combines cartography and art. “Maps demonstrate both, and in doing so he brings out the beauty of geography. The work is tedious and painstaking as it involves a lot of work such as verifying information, making accurate measurements, in addition to ensuring that the contour are accurate,” she adds.

The topography of a city is constantly evolving and most available maps of cities and towns do not factor in those changes. Only large cities and towns have been mapped in detail, with smaller cities rarely having such maps. “A particular point on a map refers to a place or place. It can be part of someone’s memory or home and can mean many things to them. People connect with cities and maps.” Apart from Vrindavan, the smaller cities he has mapped include Aluva (Kerala), Gulbarga (Karnataka) and Rajsamand (Rajasthan).

Kochi Map | photo credit: special arrangement

Venna does not use GIS (Geographic Information System Mapping) data and this differentiates its work from other memory map makers. “It’s not accurate enough. I use open sources like OpenStreetMaps for reference.” Although these are just memory maps where some might think that accuracy is not of consequence, Venna prefers to update his maps as he sees them being functional as art created by “many planners, designers, and nature itself”. see as.

Custom orders take time: Kochi’s detailed map took four months to complete, and its bestseller Colombo five months. “I tell my clients that it takes time and can’t be done in an instant, and most are prepared to wait.”

Venna wants to bring art to maps, whether elaborate or minimal. The former have detailed representations of places, landmarks, and other details, unlike the latter. Sizes A4 start with, “We, obviously, cannot show the whole city on a map of that size, a part of the city or an area at that size. Big maps are beautiful,” he says. Detailed maps also include buildings, green spaces and other aspects of the city.

Sri Hari Kantha Venna | photo credit: special arrangement

The 27-year-old started posting samples of his cartography on Instagram during the lockdown, which led to inquiries and orders for personalized maps. “People have different thoughts and feelings about places and maps, they see maps differently,” he says. Their clients include students of architecture or urban designers and students from the hospitality industry. There is also commission work done by construction companies who like to display their projects on an aesthetically rendered map”.

The map they created was a “gift of memory” of the route from Delhi to Ladakh, for a couple who wanted to map their first trip together. For some, maps are a substitute for photographs, “A map can show places that mean something to you. A map can hold more memories than a picture and can tell more stories,” he adds.

Since college keeps him busy, he doesn’t have that much time to customize the maps. “If a new project is a build-up from my previous work (Map), it takes less time, although starting a new map requires detailing and customization, so takes more time,” he says. Huh. Venna’s maps on other sites cannot be customized, he adapts on a consultation basis.

Stories Mapped

The process of customization begins with talking to the customer about their need and location memories. For example, when an Air Force officer retires, his family turns to eight maps to chart the course of his journey, from when he was commissioned to the Air Force in 1971, until his retirement in 2021. When ordered, it was decided to create maps of eight places marking important landmarks in his professional and personal life. The maps are charted with photographs. “As I said…maps tell stories!”

Venna Maps is on Instagram @vennaillustrations