WITHIN my family, I’m the person who is always looking for the next big adventure. My son and I love staying in tiny houses when we travel, doing our best to immerse ourselves in whatever city we are visiting. We love to browse local shops and find just the right memory to bring home with us. Usually, we like for our bought goods to be useful, purposeful, and really capture our experience we had on that trip.
After a couple of years building Giftware by Dixie, I truly wanted a new adventure for our business. A line unlike any other that my dad has done in the last thirty years. Thoughts of how to capture our city with her unusual square layout and historic icons ran through my head, finally landing on an illustrated map design.
I spent the next five years, using a poster board and printouts of icons that I thought captured the essence of our city, working with various artists trying to get the design perfect. After many “that’s not it” and “I give up” thoughts, we finally landed on the map design you see today.
Savannah is whimsical. She is filled with every walk of people, encouraged to pursue their dream of working with art or opening their own restaurant. We have dive bars, upscale lounges, mom and pop cafés, as we have also some of the best shopping. Savannah is a destination not only for tourists or weekenders, but for locals alike. She gently greets anyone under her vast oaks and fills them with her history and ability to transform to modern day desires.
All of this played into my mind when designing this collection. I wanted the items to be beautiful, purposeful, and useful. My desire to blur the line between gifts for locals and memories for guests shines in this artwork, really making a mark unlike anything we’ve made before.
I hope the map collection fills your home and makes you smile. There is truly blood, sweat, and tears that went into making this design laced with hope, laughter, and fond memories. These are items my son and I would want to buy if we did a weekend tiny house stay in Savannah, and gifts we curate for teachers and guests.