I could never pay attention during art history class. As if sitting in a class room early in the morning after a sleepless night wasn’t enough, we had to stare at endless slide shows in a dimly lit room as our professor hypnotized us to sleep. Yet, there was one painting that caught my full attention, and it was Qu Ding’s Summer Mountains.

I love how Chinese calligraphy, painting, and poetry are so closely linked to each other. Here, the artist seeks to express both inner harmony and harmony with nature. Viewers are meant to identify with a small human figure in the painting, allowing them to walk through, explore, and dwell in the landscape.

I think we all are somewhat egocentric and want to believe that we are the center of the universe. I believe it is true that this world was born when we were born and this world that we know of will die with us the moment we die. Yet, a painting like Qu Ding’s Summer Mountains is allowing us to view ourselves through a bigger lens, that as individuals, we are just a tiny spec that forms the vastness and multiplicity of creation itself. So this painting was like a wake up call for me saying “Wake up, kid. Not everything’s about you.”

So as I start with how we, as tiny building blocks form this exciting and wonderful world, I would like to introduce you to another world where small individual elements unite harmoniously and become something greater and awe-inspiring. Welcome to the world of pattern design.

SuTurno is a Madrid-based studio founded by Julia Vergara and Javier G. Bayo, and their creations of nostalgic silkscreened patterns seem to steal everyone’s heart. When we think of patterns, we think of repetitions because it serves as the backbone of pattern design. SuTurno abides to this fundamental law of pattern design, but in a clever way. They let the elements of each pattern do their own thing, which gives unique character and personality to their designs. This individuality is subtle, but it definitely gives a more warm and intimate feeling to their work.

Beneath The Surface is an exhibition curated by Jessie Whipple Vickery and Claudia Brown that featured flower and crystal photo collages.  Their work reminds me of cubism, where instead of depicting patterns on a flat 2D surface, they are depicted from a multitude of viewpoints creating a dreamlike sensation. It’s like looking through a kaleidoscope; there’s a world within a world, pattern within a pattern, constantly redirecting our focus. In the end, it’s really all about the inner journey  and what you decide to see first.

Andrio Abero is a designer and an illustrator currently working in Brooklyn , NY, and he has been one of the most prolific and influential designers. He is definitely the “it” guy capable of designing everything from prints to web design to illustrations. And maybe it’s because of his wide range of different backgrounds that his pattern/wallpaper designs are truly one of a kind.

The reason why I love pattern design is because it is all about creating harmony. It’s where smalls become big, where simplicity meets complexity and where individuality meets unity, all to create what is beautiful in harmony as a whole. Now, if we were all able to do the same, John Lennon would’ve never sang the song “Imagine”.

But of course there is one chaotic pattern-like world that we all seem to love.

Now, where’s Waldo?

The World of Pattern Design via @pingg  

Posted by Kun in Inspirations |