Meet the Makers: Maptote
At Evergreen Custom Gifting we focus on curated, elevated, and locally-inspired keepsakes that create a meaningful connection to our destination. Partnering with fellow creative small business owners whenever possible. In our “Meet the Makers” series we feature the local artisans and makers that provide products for our gifts.
Today we highlight Maptote. Maptote was started in 2006 by husband/wife team, Rachel and Michael Berick. They specialize in making fun, location-based accessories, tote bags & gifts for all occasions and everyday use! All of our products are made in the USA and a majority of them in Brooklyn, NY!
Our Favorite Products
We are big fans of Maptote’s market totes and pouches for our custom gifts for wedding welcome gifts, corporate celebrations or just because. Natural or denim, we can’t get enough of them!
Meet Rachel and Michael & the story behind!
In 2006, we went on vacation to Germany where we noticed grocery stores were selling simple cotton reusable tote bags. All the cities we went to had their own totes, so we purchased several and brought them back as souvenirs for our friends. Everyone loved them and so did we, but we wanted a tote for our city – Brooklyn. We’d been toying around with the idea of starting our own company, but we weren't sure what it would be. Then this Brooklyn tote idea came into play, and voila - Maptote was born!
What's your favorite part about doing what you do?
We love working on custom projects! It gives us a way to experience a new location and research what is important to that town. We love collaborating with clients and brands to create something totally unique. We can customize an existing map design or create something totally new!
Photo: Custom Wedding/Personalized Texas Grocery Tote
Do you have any new products that we should know about?
We are currently about to launch a new bag called our Shopper. Inspired by the classic brown paper bag that you'd use at a grocery store, this style is made with a new 10 oz., USA made, caramel colored canvas. The shopper is cut, sewn and printed local to us in Brooklyn, NY. It is available in New York City, Brooklyn, California, and Los Angeles. We've created a new design of patches and pins inspired by travel and the outdoors for this bag!
And not to miss, our face masks are also new since this past May.
Photo: Peace & Love Face Mask