About Driftwood Craft

Maps you can feel

I'm James, and I make layered wooden maps in my workshop in Hill Head, on the Solent coast of Hampshire.

Back in 2023 I was looking for something to scratch an unsatisfied creative itch, and purchased a laser cutter in a post-Christmas impulse buy. Following a couple of months of experimenting, one of the first real items I made was a layered wooden map of Hill Head, my home town. After posting this on a local Facebook group, the interest was so strong I struggled to keep up with demand!

Fast forward to today, and we have now produced hundreds of maps for local customers, customers all over the UK, and a few maps have even found themselves abroad. From the first few prototypes, the product (and creation process) has been continually refined, and I can confidently say my creative itch is being scratched!

Every map is powered by OpenStreetMap, the open source map of the world drawn by volunteers. I turn its streets, coastline, woods and water into cut layers: walnut for the streets, ash for the land and frosted blue acrylic for the water. 

Each piece is cut on the laser here, then layered and framed by hand. Nothing is printed.

Design your own map on this site and see a preview of it before you order, or start from in the Gallery.