Santa's Lap: Crumpled City By Palomar

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 159 months ago
Santa's Lap: Crumpled City By Palomar

Crumpled City map

Every day until Christmas the Londonist team will be pointing you in the direction of a Christmas present that (with a bit of luck) you won’t already have on your list. Climb up onto our collective lap and we’ll see what we can move from our sack to your stockings…

While we're all comfortable navigating the city, Google map-enabled smart phone in hand, there's still a lot to be said for the tactile experience of holding a real map. What's not so great, of course, is folding those huge sheets back down to the blessed compactness in whcih they arrive.

Enter Crumpled City, probably the most advanced paper map of all time. Printed on "special technological material", it's not only the lightest map available, it's also waterproof, and — here's the genius bit — it can be crumpled into any old shape, stuffed into pockets, or jammed into a rucksack, and when retrieved, it'll fold back out into a beautiful map again ("in under two seconds", the manufacturers claim). Indeed, the designer claims that the map is virtually indestructible.

The map itself covers most of central London, and includes the usual information (lists of art galleries, parks, etc.) as well as ten "SoulSights", places "filled with intense emotions that are brought to life by the people passing through or stopping off in them". It also comes with a carrying case.

Crumpled City costs €12, and is available online from Palomar, and is also for sale at Stanfords in Covent Garden for £9.99.

Browse previous Santa’s Lap entries for inspiration and check out Christmas Markets and Fairs around town for festive shopping opportunities.
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Last Updated 10 December 2010