Best of British

Tidal maps that are works of art

FOR SEVERAL MONTHS each year, William Thomson and his family live in a white van that he converted into a mobile home and artist’s studio. From here, he designs tidal maps of the British coast – which can be used for navigation by kayakers and sailors, or as artworks – and when he finishes mapping one stretch of coast, they drive to the next.

Thomson, 29, travels with his wife, Naomi, 30, their three-year-old daughter, Ottilie, 10-month-old son, Arva, and their spaniel, Alfie, though finding a balance between family life and work in such close confines can be a challenge. ‘Recently I left some sketches on the kitchen table and Ottilie altered them quite drastically,’ says Thomson.

He came up with the idea of designing tidal maps while reading architecture at Newcastle University. ‘I started surfing and learning about the tides,’ he says. ‘At the same time, I would be presenting plans and elevations for my studies.’ The two interests coincided after he graduated in 2010 and volunteered for the RNLI near Deal in Kent, where the family still live when they are not on the road. ‘I’m colour-blind so I wasn’t allowed on the boat [he couldn’t distinguish different-coloured danger beacons]. But I learnt about maps and charts, and started designing them.’

He began selling the maps from his front room – Naomi, also an artist, had been using it as a pop-up studio – and the business soon expanded. He now makes 200 maps a year, priced from £120.

First, he notes the high- and low-tide times in the particular area, in relation to the time the moon rises and sets. ‘I use a computer program that shows me all the tidal currents around the world,’ he explains. Next, he sketches the tides on to A4 paper using a black rollerball pen with a narrow 0.5mm nib. ‘It can take me several weeks to figure out how best to present the information,’ he says.

Thomson recreates each map on his computer with Adobe Photoshop and uses this as a template that can be changed depending on which section of the coast a customer wants their map to focus on.

Finally, the maps are printed on to fine art paper. ‘It has a lovely texture, so it almost looks like the ripples on the water,’ he says. ‘You could definitely find out the information more quickly by going on an app and checking the tide times, but my maps are about celebrating it in a visual way.’

The World of Tides by William Thomson is published by Quercus (£20). His maps are available at tidalcompass.com

Above William Thomson photographed near Deal, in Kent. Right His map of the world’s tides, inside his van. Interview by Jessica Carpani. Photographs by Edwardthompson