A Look @ CurioCity: London Unfolded

At the end of the week I was lucky enough to meet up with Henry and Matt, the creators of CurioCity, for a chat over a very early breakfast at Borough Market.

CurioCity, for the uninitiated, is a fold-out map of London with a twist. Now up to its second edition, ‘B’, its a really nicely designed shirt-pocket sized map, on one side containing a collection of odd London facts while on the other there’s a themed London map. This edition contains a ‘zoo map’ of London dedicated to the strange animals to be found around town – you’ll find out about the lion that guards his master’s grave at Highgate Cemetery (whose name is Nero by the way – you won’t see that in the guide!), the bengal tiger at the long-shuttered Tobacco Dock shopping complex in Wapping, and the London city farm that lies in the shadow of One Canada Place at Mudchute.

It’s Henry and Matt’s intention to go through the alphabet from A to Z, publishing a new CurioCity map every quarter. It’s available from 8 outlets across town at present (the most popular, curiously, being GOSH comics on Berwick St) and only costs £2. If you feel like going out and exploring London but can’t think of where to start I think CurioCity could be a great inspiration – once you’ve picked up a copy remember to check out the sister website, which contains even more information about each entry.

[box]An interesting addendum: the text and styling of the CurioCity map is the work of music video and movie director Tom Kingsley, who has been nominated for his recently released first feature, ‘Black Pond’. [/box]