Why I Started Atlas & Ink
The Story Behind the Custom Map Art Studio Built on Memory, Meaning, and a Love of Place
People ask me sometimes why I started a map art business.
Why maps? Why now? Why this?
And the honest answer is: I didn’t plan it. Not exactly.
I just made a map one day - one that meant something to me - and realized I wasn’t the only one who needed that kind of art in their life.
Atlas & Ink began with a personal story and grew into a small business built around custom map prints, meaningful gifts, and the belief that where you’ve been matters.
Before it was ever a brand, it was a feeling.
A way to hold onto a place I loved, long after I’d left it.
I made my first custom map for myself you can read about that here →. It wasn’t meant to be sold, it wasn’t polished or framed, it was a piece of handmade closure. A visual reminder of the Ozarks and the people I loved most. That single map opened a door I didn’t know I’d been looking for.
Because once I made that first one, I started seeing maps differently.
Not as directions or decoration, but as memory.
A custom map isn’t just art. It’s a time capsule.
I started creating more: for friends, for family, for people who reached out asking, “Could you make one for me too?”
I made maps of hometowns and honeymoons.
Of first apartments and long-distance love stories.
Maps for birthdays, for new babies, for weddings and losses and anniversaries and all the messy, beautiful in-betweens.
Every story was different.
But the emotion behind them? That was the same.
That’s when I knew I wanted to do this - really do this - and so I built Atlas & Ink, a small business dedicated to meaningful, minimalist map prints created with care, intention, and heart.
Not automated, no large corporations, no AI.
Just me, listening to your story and turning it into something you can hold.
Because here’s what I believe:
Places hold memory.
And when you make art from a place that mattered, even a quiet street or a wild coastline, you make something lasting.
That’s what we do at Atlas & Ink.
We preserve the places that shaped you.
We create map art that honors your past, celebrates your present, and helps you say this mattered - whether it’s a gift for someone else or something just for you.
This work has taught me that we’re all made up of maps.
Of winding roads, strange detours, and places we never meant to stay.
Of places we return to in memory, even if we never go back again.
So if you're here reading this, thank you.
Thank you for supporting this small business, for valuing art that tells a story, and for trusting me to help you put your memories on paper.
Here’s to the maps that make us - and the new ones still to come.
