The other night, I watched an archaeology documentary about the discovery of a previously unknown early Roman villa complex in Rutland County, UK. Amongst the foundations of generations of stone buildings is a fabulous mosaic floor featuring the story of the Trojan war. The amazingly complex patterns in this design contrast with its practical and basic function – a surface to walk on. With an enormous square footage to work with, the mosaic artists created curves and figures and even swirling backgrounds, along with patterned borders. They didn’t simply follow a grid.
These two images show the meticulous reproduction of the mosaic found in Rutland. These were painted by hand, and at scale, by the renowned British expert on mosaics, Dr. David S. Neal, highlighted on the program Digging for Britain.
This is a detail of a micro mosaic from Pompeii that I took on my visit to the Museum of Archaeology in Naples. It demonstrates the sheer skill of the mosaic artists who cut all these individual pieces by hand.
What also caught my attention wasn't just the spectacular floor. It's a simple pair of metal dividers found within the layers of soil and meant to measure short distances. But someone had taken the time to decorate it with an age-old repeating ring-and-dot pattern interspersed with lines. Even Roman engineers needed an art fix!
In this screenshot, you can make out the ring and dot design running all the way down this object, connected by hairlines and notches.
The famously long lived and simple ring and dot motif, perhaps the origins of polka dots.
This was another great reminder of the long history of pattern design, and how our human minds have evolved to be drawn to it. In creating my own patterns, and in my discussions with many people at various shows and sales, it is clear that repeating patterns resonate with most people. They can be visually exciting while simultaneously creating a feeling of reassurance. Our brains are remarkably good at recognizing order and predicting what comes next, and perhaps that's one reason patterns continue to hold such universal appeal.
I am lucky to be able to experience the lighting up of people’s minds when they are interacting with my work. They spot a motif and then see the visual echo across the pattern and the spark of recognition appears. As a surface designer, I have continued to find delight in making patterns that repeat. There is something almost magical about testing a swatch on a larger area and seeing it propagate in perpetuity. The idea that this illustrative piece of work that I’ve created is virtually infinite continues to be mind boggling.
One of my newest patterns on a tea towel - The Towers of St. Marys, alongside a pot I made.
Before I evolved into a surface designer, I made functional ceramics. The same historical thread runs through that work too. Pottery is often the only datable artifact that survives for archaeologists to discover centuries later, carrying with it both the shape of the vessel and the decorative language of its time.
Detail of a 2000 year old Greek urn in the Naples Museum of Archaeology. As designers, we are still learning to make some of these same motifs today.
Recently people have been drawn to my local patterns as they represent a familiar narrative about the immediate area. And just like the dividers or the floor, I’ve chosen to print my designs on utilitarian textiles that you see everyday in your kitchen, on your table or on your furniture.
Watching the discovery of the Roman dividers and that extraordinary mosaic floor reminded me again that pattern has been integrated into our everyday lives for millennia. We've always decorated the objects we use including stone walls, floors, pottery, and textiles like tea towels. Even as motifs and technical processes evolve, historical styles are always referenced and the instinct to decorate surfaces remains remarkably constant.
Every pattern carries a conversation forward, linking me with countless makers in history who have found satisfaction in bringing order, beauty and a little delight into the ordinary objects that surround us.
Drawing On Digital
Lately, I’ve been looking at the quality of different lines that I can produce with digital tools. It’s fascinating that with a tablet and a digital pen, I can reproduce the qualities of dry media, paint, pencils, pens and ink. It takes quite a bit of practice to sketch with this tool, and there is a long learning curve in terms of tracing these rougher lines so they can be used as vectors. But it is quite a remarkable advancement to have all of these possibilities in the digital space (see just a few some examples below). And, I don't have to get my hands physically dirty!
Of course, I still enjoy drawing on real paper with real pencils, fine liners and markers. Using this technique was the basis for a whole series of patterns I created by slicing up an original drawing and reconstructing it into new designs.
One of my reconstructed patterns made originally with marker and fineliners.
Website Updates
As I move through the summer, I will be migrating to an updated website that is geared towards my work with retail partners and potential pattern licensees. This new setup will allow me to share the bigger picture of my pattern designs with casual visitors while still protecting my pattern collections from internet scrapes. My website address will remain the same.
I will continue to share my pattern progress with all of you through this newsletter! I love hearing from you, so please feel free to respond any time. Keep having a great summer!
A Cool Giveaway
Based on my discussion of lines, here’s a simple stripe I designed that makes me think of a linen seersucker suit -- a bit rumpled but still nice and cool on a hot summer day. Please download for your personal use in any way you’d like.
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