Topography
Journal
A gallery wall with a 3D piece: mixing relief and flat art
A relief stands out from the wall and throws its own shadows. How to place a 3D piece in a gallery wall of flat art: the anchor, the spacing, the light and the frame colours.
Read the articleAlso worth reading
Places
The mountains, islands and countries we have made pieces of, and what makes their terrain worth a closer look.
Places
Gotland: cliffs, sea stacks and a coral reef from the Silurian
Much of Gotland's bedrock is ancient coral reef from a tropical sea 430 million years ago. On the sea stacks of Fårö, the tilt of the island, its cliffs and what shows when the whole island becomes a relief.
Places
Mount Fuji: its height, the crater and why the cone is so symmetrical
3,776 metres, a crater at the top and an eruption from the side in 1707. Why Mount Fuji's cone is so even, what happened the last time it was active, and why it became a cultural World Heritage Site.
Places
Marmolada: the highest peak in the Dolomites and its shrinking glacier
Punta Penia, at 3,343 metres, is the highest point in the Dolomites, and on its north side lies the range's only large glacier. On the mountain's two faces, what the ice measurements show and the summer of 2022.
Places
Gaustatoppen: the summit that sees a sixth of Norway
1,883 metres, a view over some 50,000 square kilometres, a train inside the mountain and a town below that the sun does not reach in winter. On Gaustatoppen and Rjukan.
Places
Besseggen: the ridge between two lakes at different heights
Gjende lies at around 985 metres, Bessvatnet at 1,373, and a narrow ridge keeps them apart. On the two lakes, the hike over Veslfjellet and Ibsen's Gjendin ridge.
Places
The Geirangerfjord: walls six times taller than the fjord is deep
The fjord is 258 metres deep at most, the mountains around it 1,400 to 1,700. How the ice dug it, the S-bend, the waterfalls, the World Heritage listing and why the fjord becomes a hole in the relief.
Places
Europe's highest mountain: Elbrus or Mont Blanc?
Elbrus or Mont Blanc? The answer depends not on the mountains but on where the line between Europe and Asia is drawn. Here are the two boundaries, the summits and why both answers exist.
Places
Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau: three summits in one wall
Three summits between 3,967 and 4,158 metres in one north-facing wall. The Eiger north face, the railway through the mountain to the Jungfraujoch, the Aletsch Glacier on the south side and the valleys below.
Places
Lake Como: why the lake is a Y, and why it is so deep
Lake Como is an upside-down Y, around 410 metres deep, with its floor more than 200 metres below sea level. On the ice that dug it, the arm that leads nowhere and Bellagio at the junction.
Places
Sweden in relief: what a 3D map of Sweden actually shows
The mountains in the west, the river valleys of Norrland, the great lakes in the middle and the flat plain of Skåne. What a 3D map of Sweden actually shows, from Kebnekaise to the country's lowest point.
Skiing
The ski areas behind the pieces: vertical drop, lifts, the season and the mountain under the pistes.
Skiing
Ski season 2026/27: when the slopes open and why then
Planned opening dates for Sälen, Åre, Vemdalen, Trysil and Hemsedal, what the snow guarantee from 18 December means, and why the dates sit where they do.
Skiing
Vertical drop, altitude and piste kilometres: what the numbers mean
Three numbers appear in every ski resort fact box and they measure completely different things. What vertical drop, altitude above sea level and piste length actually tell you about a day on the hill.
Skiing
Åre 26/27: the new lifts and the 1000-metre lift that is back
The 1000-metre lift is rising again on Åreskutan with a top station at 1,319 metres. Planning permission came in May 2026, the snow guarantee triples to 30 runs, and the detailed plan for the Skut gondola has just been out for public review.
Topography
Contour lines, elevation models and vertical exaggeration - how a landscape is measured and how it becomes something you can touch.
Topography
Sweden's highest mountains: every summit over 2,000 metres
Kebnekaise is the highest, but Sweden has twelve summits over 2,000 metres. Here they all are, with heights, and the three reasons different lists do not agree.
Topography
Relief map, topographic map or 3D wall art? The difference explained
A topographic map shows shape as lines, a relief map shows it in three dimensions, and 3D topographic wall art is a relief made for a wall. On the words, the oldest mountain relief and what really sets them apart.
Topography
The tree line has climbed, but not evenly
On Getryggen near Storulvån the tree line now sits above 1,000 metres, more than 200 metres higher than a century ago. Yet across a five-year window nothing shows at all. On a boundary that is harder to measure than it sounds.
Topography
Why do Swedish mountains look the way they do?
Rounded summits but vertical northern faces. Broad U-shaped valleys but flat high plateaus. The shapes of the Swedish mountains are the result of three separate events, 400 million years apart.
Topography
How to read contour lines on a mountain map
Contour interval, tightly spaced lines and the V shapes that separate a stream valley from a ridge. A short, concrete guide to how contour lines work on Swedish maps.
Topography
What is an elevation model? Laser data, point clouds and grids
An elevation model is not an image, it is a table of heights. The difference between DTM and DSM, how airborne laser scanning works, and what resolution means once terrain becomes physical.
Topography
How a mountain's height is measured, and why the number changes
Sea level is not flat, GPS measures the wrong height, and a summit made of snow shrinks over the summer. How elevation above sea level is actually derived - and why Kebnekaise, Mont Blanc and Etna have all changed number.
Interiors
Size, height, light and frame. Practical advice for making a relief work on your wall.
Interiors
A gallery wall with a 3D piece: mixing relief and flat art
A relief stands out from the wall and throws its own shadows. How to place a 3D piece in a gallery wall of flat art: the anchor, the spacing, the light and the frame colours.
Interiors
Decorating a mountain cabin: the walls are the hard part
Pine panelling everywhere, low ceilings and darkness for half the year. Why cabin walls are harder than the ones at home, and what actually works on them.
Interiors
Oak or black frame? Choose by the wall
Oak blends into pale, timber-heavy rooms. Black frames the piece and sharpens the contrast against the light relief. A walk through when each choice does the most work.
Interiors
Hanging the piece: height, spacing and the light that makes the relief
145 centimetres to the centre is the museum measurement. But a three-dimensional relief adds a requirement that flat art does not: the light has to come from the side.
Interiors
What size should the piece be? Measure, do not guess
Two thirds of the width of the sofa, 15 to 20 centimetres above the back, and a centre at 145 centimetres. How to work out the right size for the wall you actually have.
Gifts
When the gift should be about a place - for the skier, the hiker or someone who has just moved.
Gifts
A housewarming gift for a cabin: the land it stands on
Someone who buys a cabin has already chosen the place. How to give it back to them as a piece: what goes in the square, mountain or lake, frames against panelling and light in a cabin.
Gifts
A gift for someone who has everything: give a place, not another thing
People who have everything rarely have their place on the wall. Five ways to find the place that matters to them, when a relief will not work, and how your own place becomes a piece.
Gifts
Gifts for hikers: choose the place, not the gear
Anyone who walks in the mountains chooses their own kit, gram by gram. Nobody chooses their memories, though. How to find the right place instead of the right product.
Gifts
A gift for the skier who already owns everything
Anyone who skis a lot already owns the equipment. Here is how to choose something that lasts beyond the season, plus the lead times to allow for a handmade piece.
Behind FRMD
How the pieces are made, from elevation data to finished frame, and why we choose the way we do.
Behind FRMD
Which places work as 3D topography, and which do not
If you are ordering a piece of your own place, choosing the area matters more than anything else. Here is what makes a place readable from across the room - and what does not.
Behind FRMD
From elevation data to a finished piece: how a place becomes physical
The window, the height scale, the nameplate, the print and the frame. An honest walk through the steps between a grid of height values and a finished piece on the wall.
Behind FRMD
Why the mountain on the wall is taller than the real one
At true scale, Åreskutan becomes two centimetres tall on a 25 centimetre piece. That is why relief maps exaggerate height - and why there is a limit to how much.
All articles
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Interiors
A gallery wall with a 3D piece: mixing relief and flat art
Topography
Sweden's highest mountains: every summit over 2,000 metres
Places
Gotland: cliffs, sea stacks and a coral reef from the Silurian
Places
Mount Fuji: its height, the crater and why the cone is so symmetrical
Places
Marmolada: the highest peak in the Dolomites and its shrinking glacier
Places
Gaustatoppen: the summit that sees a sixth of Norway
Places
Besseggen: the ridge between two lakes at different heights
Places
The Geirangerfjord: walls six times taller than the fjord is deep
Places
Europe's highest mountain: Elbrus or Mont Blanc?
Gifts
A housewarming gift for a cabin: the land it stands on
Gifts
A gift for someone who has everything: give a place, not another thing
Places
Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau: three summits in one wall
