They’re Robbie and Kara Johnson, the husband and wife duo behind Below the Boat, and they’re running the show from their home over in Bellingham, WA. They’ve both lived a short walk from the Pacific Ocean their entire lives. They see the majesty of a big pool of water and unabashedly geek out over the under-appreciated world hidden just below it’s surface.
Starting with a bathymetric chart (the underwater equivalent of a topographic map), the contours are laser-cut into sheets of Baltic birch and glued together to create a powerful visual depth. Select layers are hand-colored blue so it’s easy to discern land from water, major byways are etched into the land, then the whole thing’s framed in a custom, solid-wood frame and protected seamlessly with a sheet of durable, ultra-transparent Plexiglas.
Get your own here: http://www.belowtheboat.com/
Wood relief cuts based on bathymetric maps. These are gorgeous! I'm also geeking out on using a laser cutter.
