Hand-Illustrated City Maps by Vianina
The last city trip, the pre-children travel, the short stay—cities you visit often leave a lasting impression. If you like to dream your way around the world, you can hang enchanting, hand-illustrated maps on your wall. It is a wonderful gift that Nina, the founder of Vianina, perfectly implements with a keen sense of colors and shapes! Her lovingly designed CityMaps have received multiple awards and have been recognized in many design media outlets.
VIANINA – MAPS TO THE HEART
It is a wonderful gift that Nina, with a keen sense of colors and shapes, perfectly implements! Her lovingly designed CityMaps have received multiple awards and have been recognized in many design media outlets. If Vianina were a view mode on Google Maps, it would be called “Heart View ♥.”
This is a quote from her website, and it's true. The images of the most wonderful cities in the world—Vienna, New York, Paris, Barcelona... — are a collection of creative details that bring the maps to life and evoke memories of great stays. I fell in love with these illustrations at first sight, and I met Nina! We chatted about vibrant colors, life, and hormones. Nina is expecting her first baby any moment now... Over tea and cheesecake muffins, she answered a few questions about herself and her work.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST CITY YOU ILLUSTRATED?
The first city was my hometown, Wasserburg am Inn. It’s a small, charming town in Upper Bavaria with about 13,000 inhabitants. The Inn River flows in a loop around the medieval town center, forming a 7/8 island. With the illustration, I wanted to show my roots and highlight the unique location and architecture of Wasserburg from a bird’s eye view.
WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT VIENNA? HOW DID YOU START CREATING THE MAP FOR VIENNA?
What’s special about Vienna is that it’s a big city with a lot of history, beautiful buildings, and many events, but it’s not overwhelmingly large, and you can quickly get out into the green and near the water. That’s particularly important to me. As always with my city illustrations, I started with the water in Vienna as well, meaning the Danube Canal and the Danube River. This gives a very elemental structure to cities. Rivers or the sea play a really important role in most cities, as you can see in the maps of Hamburg, Venice, or Amsterdam.
WHERE CAN PEOPLE BUY YOUR BEAUTIFUL PRINTS?
People can mainly buy my prints in my online shop at www.vianina.com. In 2016, I had a stand at the Spittelberg Christmas Market in Vienna's 7th district for the first time. Otherwise, I’m often at design markets like the Wamp Market, Feschmarkt, or Edelstoff Market. Additionally, there are a few stores that sell my city maps.
YOU WILL BECOME A MOTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A FEW WEEKS. HOW IMPORTANT IS DESIGN IN THE NURSERY? Which colors play a role for you?
To be honest, we haven't designed a nursery yet because I don’t even know if it will be a girl or a boy. The baby will initially sleep in our bedroom and won’t need its own room yet. I want to let things come naturally and not decide everything now. However, there is already a room planned for the baby, and I’m quite sure we will decorate it very colorfully in due course. I love bright, cheerful colors, as you can easily see from my city maps. Of course, I make sure the colors are harmonious and not too overwhelming. We'll see if this can be implemented in a nursery. I'm excited!
VIANINA IN THE NURSERY
Speaking of nurseries, I took the opportunity of Nina's beautiful new "World" map to change the wall in our nursery! It fits perfectly, I think!
Interview by Daniela Gaigg for “Die kleine Botin”