Torie Partridge is one of my favorite people in the DC creative community. She’s got great taste which you’ve likely seen in her DC paper goods shop, Terratorie Maps + Goods and she also has the most beautiful home filled with plants and books and musical instruments.

During quarantine, Torie has had to shut down her shop, so she transitioned to creating mailable gift boxes filled with stationary, crystals, candles, and more from her shop to help her customers say hi to friends near and far. It’s keeping her busy and she and her partner seem to be finding a good nested spirit at home these days. Learn what life looks like for them in the interview below!

Who are you, what do you do, and why?

I’m Torie Partridge, and I own a design studio and shop called Terratorie Maps + Goods. I’m the creator of the Neighborhood Maps Project, a collection of illustrated maps that celebrates local pride and neighborhood culture. My work in life is to make the world a brighter, more colorful, more creative, more loving place.

What does home mean to you?

Home is sacred. It’s a place of rest and refuge. Usually our home is also a place of hospitality, celebration, and sharing - thought that’s had to change a great deal since the start of this crisis. Farhan (my partner) and I work diligently to manage the energy of our home, and to keep things beautiful, peaceful, and organized. We bought our first ever house in the fall. It’s a historic Victorian in the incredible neighborhood of Mount Rainier, right on the DC border. Our new home is such a dreamy space, and I’m constantly in awe of its beauty. Our friends call our home ‘The Lighthouse’ and our ethos is that our home is a restorative space, for ourselves and the people we love.

Has your relationship with home changed since the start of the COVID crisis?

So many things about our home have changed, but my appreciation for our home has deepened greatly since the beginning of the crisis. Typically our house is full of people. We’re always having people over for dinner, or parties, or music gatherings. It’s been very still and quiet with just Farhan and I in the house. But in the stillness I’ve found a lot of happiness as well. We’re being more experimental in the kitchen. I’m learning to sew. Farhan is learning to play bossa nova songs on the guitar. I’m planting seeds. The first several weeks of the crisis were so fraught with anxiety and stress, and the house really held and protected us. It’s big enough that it’s got plenty of space for both of us to be comfortably working from home and still have privacy. I feel thankful that we’re not in the tiny one bedroom we were living in before this. We’re so lucky to have the home we have, and my gratitude for my home is immense.

How has business changed with the COVID crisis?

It’s changed immensely. We’ve had to shut down our retail shop entirely, and shift everything we’re doing online. Because the 70+ shops that we retail the maps and cards at are also shut, it’s shut down all of our wholesale operations as well. It’s strange and scary and overwhelming. I’ve been focusing on taking more of our shop products onto our online store, and buying from local DC producers. I’ve been creating items for the shop that are whimsical and keep people connected, like Happy Birthday Kits with fun confetti candles and handwritten notes for people who can’t spend their birthdays together, or Mystery Correspondence Kits with six cards and stamps and a fun pencil to write them with. I’ve been so touched by the notes I’m seeing people include in their packages to each other that sometimes it makes me cry while I’m packing their orders. It’s such a privilege to be able to facilitate someone giving love to someone they miss. Right now I’m trying hard to focus on creating and selling things that bring smiles to people’s faces, and keep them being creatively fulfilled. I’ve fought hard to make sure we survive. It hasn’t been as bad as I feared it might be when we shut our doors completely, but it’s really difficult to plan a roadmap ahead when you have no idea what’s to come.

What’s your daily routine like right now?

We’ve been sleeping late. First thing in the morning, we share a french press of Vigilante coffee and chat for a little while in the garden if it’s warm enough. Most days I’m still working full time adjusting the business to the new conditions, responding to customers, drawing maps, updating our online shop, and all of the million other little tasks that come with running a small business. Two to three times a week I’ll go into the shop and pack and ship orders, and it’s been nice to have another space to go to, even if it’s just for a few hours. In the evenings we cook, watch movies on the projector, play with the cat. I draw, Farhan plays music. We work on personal projects. We meditate in the Blue Room. I take long, luxuriant showers at night. We chat with our friends and families on Zoom. We do things to try and enjoy the space and the time we have, though it’s so strange not to have our calendars full of social engagements in the evenings and weekends. It’s infuriating and lonely and peaceful and lovely all at the same time, somehow.

Where’s your daily moment of zen at home right now?

My daily moment of zen is spending time watching the emergence of new plants in my garden. I’ll let the cat out with me into the backyard and we’ll both just wander around staring at plants. I’ve found that I’ve been more present to all the ways plants are changing all around me since I’ve been staying at home. Most mornings I’ll spend some time seeing the new flowers that have blossomed, the new shoots emerging from the earth, paying attention to how leaves bloom from branches. Each plant is so unique and pushes itself into the world in such a strange and wonderful way. Part of it is that my garden is so new to me, and full of such incredible diversity. But I think another part of it is that covid is forcing us all to be slower, smaller, and quieter. That’s a great recipe for practicing the art of noticing, which I think is foundational to our happiness.