About Us

About

CityFabric is a simple tool to bring the discussion of cities and urban design to the general public. Our maps are a very easy way for people to tell a story about where they live.

Communicating the process of change and design in the built environment is crucial for inspiring people to get involved in the decisions that determine the direction of their city. It is our belief that the more people talk about their place, the more they will get involved in their community.

Civic-minded projects fueled by civic-minded products

Walk Raleigh

Walk Raleigh is our initial step in linking the purchase of products to the funding and promotion of real life, small-scale civic and social interventions. Walk Raleigh is a very basic, guerrilla (self-installed) wayfinding system of 27 signs placed at 3 different intersections in downtown Raleigh. These signs are intended to put walkability on the forefront of conversation about the future of downtown Raleigh. The project has already garnered a tremendous amount of press locally, nationally and internationally, spurred by a feature in The Atlantic Cities. The BBC even came to town to feature the project - earning top viewership in the US the day it aired.

Find out more via our submission to the Venice Biennale in this PDF.

North Is That Way

Our second consecutive guerilla wayfinding project executed while visiting NYC. We used non-permanent industrial sidewalk stickers to help direct locals and visitors alike, displaying the cardinal direction of North upon existing the subway.

Find out more via our submission to the Venice Biennale in this PDF.

Our Cities

Our Maps - So what are they anyways?

They’re like aerial maps of the city, but boiled down to the very basic forms of the city. They show the mass of buildings and the void of streets and other non-building spaces. Known as a Nolli Map, this form of city representation has been used by architects and planners for centuries. It is a simple and clear, yet extremely articulate type of map, making it easy for people to understand.

Our Story

Trial & Error - August 2010 to April 2011 (while in grad school full time)

After printed 75 tees and selling half in 3 hours at a local arts market, we decided to learn the ins and outs of retail, inventory, production, online publicity and innovation over the 7 months while still in grad school full-time.

CityFabric, Inc - April 2011

Matt founded CityFabric, Inc. and started planning a Kickstarter project to launch a full civic-minded line of products focused on engaging people with the city.

Kickstarter – July 2011to August 2011

The success of our Wear You Live™" Kickstarter project could not have come at a better time, offering Matt the confidence to move forward with CityFabric as a national identity focused on creating conversations about the city and fostering community engagement.

Walk the Walk – January 2012

After months of getting the numbers to work and the brand established, CityFabric’s first civic-minded project (walk-raleigh.com) is launched, bolstering the larger CityFabric mission of "civic-minded projects fueled by civic-minded products".

2011 Year in Review

Meet the Team

Matt Tomasulo (@cityfabric) founded CityFabric, Inc. with the plan to engage as many people as possible in conversation about their city. By using cool maps that are typically only used in urban planning and design, Matt turned a traditional analytical tool into a beautiful, didactic community engagement product. Matt will finish his Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture graduate degrees in December 2011.

Over the past year, Zack Davenport aka "Mr Davenport" (@mrdavenport), a rising star in the t-shirt world, has served as our crafty intern and graphic mastermind. This past fall we joined forces with two more talents, Grif Friendman (@panoz7) - genius designer and developer behind our online interface and Miller Taylor (@millertaylor) - photographic extraordinaire.