contour.PRINTS

The collection · From the archive

Sea charts

Admiralty and coastal charts from the age of sail — Cornwall, the Thames Estuary, the English Channel, Cape Cod — with their soundings, their compass roses and the coast as the surveyors drew it.

What to make meanwhile

Coming · the first prints in this family are being drawn

Being drawn

The first prints in this family, each on sale here as soon as it is ready.

  1. 01Cornwall
  2. 02The Thames Estuary
  3. 03The English Channel
  4. 04Cape Cod

Meanwhile, in the collection

Prints you can make today, composed free in the Studio.

The Historic Print: Your street as the Ordnance Survey drew it more than a century ago, in London and twelve other cities. Type a postcode and find your house.
The Historic PrintYour street as the Ordnance Survey drew it more than a century ago, in London and twelve other cities. Type a postcode and find your house.
Long-distance paths
Long-distance pathsBritain's long-distance paths, end to end or the stretch you walked.
The Map Print: Anywhere on earth, drawn from its own streets: a city, your village, or the stretch between two neighbourhoods. No data needed.
The Map PrintAnywhere on earth, drawn from its own streets: a city, your village, or the stretch between two neighbourhoods. No data needed.
Blueprint: Your routes on a fine surveying grid.
BlueprintYour routes on a fine surveying grid.

Good to know

Which charts are these?

Nineteenth-century Admiralty and US Coast Survey sheets, out of copyright and held in public collections, restored and printed with the survey's own soundings and notes.

Can any old chart be sold?

No, so each one is checked. A chart is printed only once its reuse terms have been read and recorded; a sheet a collection holds under a non-commercial licence is left out, however good it looks.

How is it printed and framed?

Like every print here: giclée printed on 200 gsm enhanced matte fine-art paper with archival pigment inks, then framed by hand in solid wood — a classic frame in eight colours or a box frame, with or without a mount — or sent rolled for a frame you already have. Made to order and posted tracked; the print guide has the sizes.

How it works

From the Studio to your wall in three steps.

The Heatmap print: a year of London runs layered into one map of familiar roads
Step 01

Choose your subject

Connect Strava in one tap for a race, a ride or a whole year. Or search for a place, type a postcode for your street on the old Ordnance Survey, or add a photograph — none of those needs an account.

The Contours print: a year of runs drawn as density contours, the ground darkest where the miles repeat
Step 02

Choose your style

Start from a finished design and make it yours: the words, the colours, the size. Twenty-three styles for your own miles, four treatments for a place, six layouts for a photograph, and the old survey as drawn or in your colours.

The Distance rings print: one ring for every activity of the year, the longer arcs the longer days
Step 03

We print and frame it

Pick a frame, check out, and it is printed to order on fine-art paper, framed by hand and posted to you, tracked.

  • Made to orderPrinted for you, never from stock
  • Fine-art paperArchival inks, framed by hand
  • Tracked deliveryUK delivery £7.85, tracked · worldwide, priced at checkout
  • Arrives damaged?We replace it, no quibble