Hi! I’m Dmytro Tantsuyev. I’m a 28 years old Ukrainian American entrepreneur and artist. I love to travel, woodworking and maps! I’ve lived in 7 different cities in 3 countries and I’m interested in the ways to combine the things I love with creativity and business. I was born in a small rural town in Western Ukraine and studied engineering in Moscow. I moved to the US 9 years ago and I’ve taken different jobs in different places just to explore the country. Last year I and Farhad Tokhtamov, a university classmate, fellow artist and custom furniture maker from Moscow, decided to launch Wood Map, a small luxury souvenir production business that ships anywhere in the world.
Our wooden maps are born out of a passion for woodworking and a love for the Earth - fueling the diligent work of our talented team. Some people call our maps art, others call them interior decor. For us, it is a way to show the textural beauty of the Earth through a natural living resource - wood.
Some years ago I decided to make a wooden map of Ukraine as a present for my parents. To realize this idea, I needed access to the necessary tools and equipment and so I joined a production coworking studio where I was living in Austin, Texas. I was so inspired by the process of creating a map and the result that I decided to try to make a world map. By this time, I had moved to Moscow and I was able to set up shop with my future business partner Farhad Tokhtamov in his furniture making shop. Here I worked hard to design and create a unique world map with special emphasis on relief and contours. I became interested in the mathematics of map coloring and the possibility to create a planar type map using different colored hardwoods. I spent several months designing the templates and selecting a variety of hardwoods to accent and contrast different land masses similar to a choropleth map but without the statistical or political significance. I planned the entire production process from start to finish and I realized that I had created a fairly optimized production plan. This is when I understood that it would be interesting to share my fascination with maps, wood, and design with others.
More info: kickstarter.com | woodmap.com
