Friday Favorite: Aymie Spitzer

This Friday’s featured artist is Aymie Spitzer of Neighborwood Maps!
I love her miniature neighborhood necklaces! 

Each neighborhood is engraved in 1/8" thick aromatic cedar:

San Francisco necklace

Aymie writes:
Neighborwoods was created out of my love for vintage maps, with the support of my friends at Hyperakt.
I think there is something magical about early hand-drawn and hand-lettered maps and I've attempted to capture that magic into wood with Neighborwoods. Every map is unique, just like your treasured stories from your neighborhood.

Madrid necklace

Neighborwoods products are made with Aromatic Red Cedar plywood, which comes from the Western Red Cedar (Thuja Plicata). The tree is also known as the Pacific Cedar, Giant Arborvitae, Western Arborvitae, Giant Cedar or Shinglewood. The species is native to western North America, and specifically, to the Pacific Northwest. It is the provincial tree of British Columbia. Western Red Cedar trees are huge! They range in height from 213-230 ft tall and in width from 10-13 ft wide.

Brooklyn necklace

The freshly aromatic wood has historically been used to build shelters, lightweight boats, utensils, furniture, rope, clothing, instruments, totem poles and other craft objects. In recent times it has often been used to line the interiors of closets. The earliest findings of the red cedar wood in use were found near Vancouver, and dates between 8000 and 5000 years ago. Indigenous societies made woodworking tools with it.

New Orleans Necklace

The wood we use is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and harvested in the USA. FSC certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits. The rustic look of the reddish colored heartwood and its fresh natural scent help lend our products their heirloom charm.

See all of Aymie Spitzer's map art on her website at www.neighborwoodmaps.com and in her Etsy Shop at www.etsy.com/shop/Neighborwoodmaps!

TGIF!