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Hello Stroly Mappers! This is Gio from Stroly bringing you the latest news of our Community activities.
After wrapping up all the activities with SXSW 2019 in Texas and resting for a bit, our team flew to Monterrey, Mexico for a day full of map making activities with local artists.
This was one of the many events we have been working on with the collaboration of FabCafes all over the world, but the first one in Mexico and in this continent. Headquartered in Tokyo but available in multiple countries, they’re a place equipped with devices such as laser cutters and 3D printers, aiding the creative community to use them to bring their ideas to life. They also serve amazing drinks and meals.
In this occasion, we also partnered with WeAreMurall, a local art & design collective that offers workshops and events in the area aiming to promote the local talent. This was a perfect pairing!
Our activities started in the morning with a presentation about Stroly at a gorgeous co-working space called TreeHouse Cowork, on a renovated mid-century house remodeled into an open office plan. Such an amazing place! Our pictures don’t do it justice, so if you ever are in the area, be sure to check them out.
In the afternoon, we headed to FabCafe Monterrey, in the local Tecnológico area. Because of its proximity to the Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus, this area is vibrant and full of youthful energy. Great places to eat, parks, nightlife and more can be found here. Makes sense that such venue as FabCafe is located here.
Here, we were scheduled for a 3 hour Map Making workshop with local artists. After a brief introduction on Stroly, we split the attendees into groups and armed with sketch boards and their preferred art supplies, had them explore the area around the Cafe.
What was the objective? Help us discover “hidden treasures” that might be missed in the daily routine of people passing by and like our motto “Share the way we see the world”. And let me tell you that what they came back with did not disappoint!
Our artists had a bit of time to cool down and work on their illustrations in the comfort of the Cafe.
Their feedback at that point of the activity was that while at first, it was a bit hard to find “interesting things” to illustrate, they soon discovered that many things do get ignored in the hustle & bustle of modern life. This exercise helped them realize how creative maps can help chronicle, preserve and share the value of an area in the long term.
To wrap up the event, we uploaded the illustrations to a previously created map of the area and we assisted with the creation of their Stroly accounts. This with the intention of being able to edit the map and add their findings in the comfort of their homes.
The coolest part of this workshop is that attendees will be able to continue working on this map and adding more stuff as a collective and share it with others easily.
From our part, we had a blast during this event. Not only were our co-hosts super friendly and helpful during the whole event, but we feel we have made great friends too. We also identified that the local community is more than willing to help brand their local area using the power of their creativity.
We are already planning on new events we can bring to Monterrey and ways we can collaborate on upcoming projects. Can’t wait to visit again!
So that’s it from my part. Does this type of events spark your interest and would like to help us host one near you?
Feel free to write to us at hello@stroly.jp
