The first map I ever drew was of Ireland.
At the time, I had no grand plan. The Wild Scribe didn't exist. There was no business, no collection of county maps, and no tagline. I was living in London during the first lockdown and I was missing home.
So I traced the outline of Ireland and began to draw.
What's interesting, looking back now, is that the very first thing I instinctively added wasn't a famous landmark or a place of historical importance.
It was home.
Without even thinking about it, I drew the place where I grew up. The place that held my memories, my family and my roots.
Years later, when my two sisters, Áoife and Édaín, were helping me come up with a tagline for The Wild Scribe, we landed on the phrase "Drawing You Home".
At the time it felt right, but I don't think I fully understood just how true it was.
Looking back at that first map, I realise that's exactly what I was doing. I wasn't simply drawing Ireland. I was drawing myself home. Creating something that made me feel a little closer to the people and places I missed.
And in many ways, that's what every map has been ever since.
Every map I create starts with places, but it's never really about places. It's about connection. It's about that old familiar song that transports us back in time, a poem learned at school that we can still recite by heart, or a landmark that instantly reminds us where we come from. The things that remind us of who we are, where we've come from, and the places that will always feel like home.
Whether someone lives around the corner or on the other side of the world, there is always a place that feels like home.
That's what I draw.
Not just maps.
A way home.
