With Karta it wasn't just about the geography of a place, but the personal experience in that place that gave it real relevance. We believed there was value to people to being able to archive their experiences, to share the places they loved and collect the places they wanted to go—Karta turned into a vessel of self-expression through location.
 

Whether traveling or in your own city, wanting recommendations from friends or people with similar interests wasn't a new concept—but there was no easy way to make this exchange. Karta allowed people to curate, archive and collaborate on public or private collections, called kartas [maps in Swedish].
 

Ambiant Soundscapes, Ceilings of New York, Brothels: The Best Broth Noodles in NY, Murals of Dirty ol' Bastard, Alternative Bombay, Post Industrial Sightseeing, The World's Best Coffee.  

Our first users were curators by nature—artists and designers, travelers, writers. Past that the initial 50 invites, we had no control over who joined the community. These people ended up being some of the most surprising contributors—complete strangers creating interest-based collections of places all over the world.

Below:
Ariana Cinema, the best place to watch Bollywood from the karta When in Kabul and St. Xaviers High School from Alternative Bombay.

We had a vision of a perfect marriage where social meets utility—a product that would act as a shell allowing people to create collections based on passion, exploration, travel, hobbies, history and art. The sense of community, of learning, is what made Karta so unique; to wake up each morning and find maps created in places that you've never even heard of. 
 

"St Xavier’s [a high school in Bombay, India] houses a 3,000-odd collection of preserved animals, birds and reptiles. I saw a stuffed, snarling Bengal Tiger in a glass case guarding a row of classrooms. The collection is scattered across 3 floors, and belonged to Father Antonio Navarro, a former Jesuit priest and ornithologist. The tiger was gifted to him by a maharaja who was a student at the school."

- ANURADHA SENGUPTA, CREATOR OF ALTERNATIVE BOMBAY