Pattern study provides insight into materiality, craft, place and time, concept, culture, and technology. The Pattern Research Project is a cross-disciplinary project that spans the Design History and Fundamentals of Interior Design courses during the sophomore year of VCU Interior Design's BFA curriculum. This project challenges students to select a contemporary pattern found in the built environment (textiles, wallcoverings, screens), identify design precedents, research and analyze both the contemporary pattern and historical precedents, and communicate these findings.
For students of interior design, pattern study connects design history, studio-based skills development, graphic communication learning, knowledge of contemporary and traditional craft, materials and their limits and opportunities, communication with fabricators and researchers, and research process development.
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Pattern Project - Emblems of Colonialism - Thomas Day S-Curve
L.T Moon
The Emblems of Colonialism project is a part of the broader Pattern Research Projects created by design history and design studio faculty members, Emily Smith and Dr. Sara Reed. Students in VCU Interior Design were asked to examine a pattern or motif used on a decorative object or surface during the colonial era in the Americas. During the 15th through 18th centuries, a period of colonialism forced new relationships between European countries and places in what is now known as North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. This project explores how colonial era patterns reveal power structures, othering, and the migration of design ideas.
L.T Moon, VCU Interior Design MFA 2022, selected the Thomas Day S-Curve piece for the 2020 Emblems of Colonialism Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student's work.
"Bilateral and symmetrical along the axis consistent use of scale and proportion all elements (ornaments, supports, pulls, arm grips, panels) intentional use of positive and negative space emphasis on geometries, simplistic S-curve pattern appears in supports and ornaments angular, inverted, repetitive, dense curvilinear."
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Pattern Research Project: Emblems of Colonialism - High Chest
Stephanie Wilburn
The Emblems of Colonialism project is a part of the broader Pattern Research Projects created by design history and design studio faculty members, Emily Smith and Dr. Sara Reed. Students in VCU Interior Design were asked to examine a pattern or motif used on a decorative object or surface during the colonial era in the Americas. During the 15th through 18th centuries, a period of colonialism forced new relationships between European countries and places in what is now known as North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. This project explores how colonial era patterns reveal power structures, othering, and the migration of design ideas.
Stephanie Wilburn, VCU Interior Design MFA 2022, selected the High Chest piece for the 2020 Emblems of Colonialism Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student's work.
"This William and Mary High Chest was fabricated in Boston, Massachusetts between 1720 -1730. The surface of the furniture is decorated in the “Japanned” style popular in the British Colonies from 1700 to 1775. Japanning was a process first created and popularized in Europe designed to imitate the decorative ornament of Asian lacquers which were too expensive and difficult to work with to import to the West. Exposure to goods from Asia first through the Spanish and Portuguese exploration and then through trade from the Dutch East Indies Company drove the desire for “exotic” goods."
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Pattern Research Project: Emblems of Colonialism - Lift-Top Chest
Emily Adams
The Emblems of Colonialism project is a part of the broader Pattern Research Projects created by design history and design studio faculty members, Emily Smith and Dr. Sara Reed. Students in VCU Interior Design were asked to examine a pattern or motif used on a decorative object or surface during the colonial era in the Americas. During the 15th through 18th centuries, a period of colonialism forced new relationships between European countries and places in what is now known as North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. This project explores how colonial era patterns reveal power structures, othering, and the migration of design ideas.
Emily Adams, VCU Interior Design MFA 2022, selected the Lift-Top Chest piece for the 2020 Emblems of Colonialism Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student's work.
"Colonial chests originate from early 17th century chests from England. Chests were the most popular and most important type of furniture in the household. Chests often only item brought settlers to the new world. Many settlers would try to recreate home life as if they were in England. Immigrant craftsman implement similar use of patter, style and motifs from homeland."
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Pattern Research Project: Emblems of Colonialism - Mudejar Bookcase
Hallie Gillespie
The Emblems of Colonialism project is a part of the broader Pattern Research Projects created by design history and design studio faculty members, Emily Smith and Dr. Sara Reed. Students in VCU Interior Design were asked to examine a pattern or motif used on a decorative object or surface during the colonial era in the Americas. During the 15th through 18th centuries, a period of colonialism forced new relationships between European countries and places in what is now known as North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. This project explores how colonial era patterns reveal power structures, othering, and the migration of design ideas.
Hallie Gillespie, VCU Interior Design MFA 2022, selected the Mudejar Bookcase for the 2020 Emblems of Colonialism Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student's work.
"Painted in a striking red and gold chinoiserie style, in keeping with an achinadotradition in which Latin American artists borrowed and embellished Chinese and Japanese styles of furniture, china, silver, and textiles that had been imported from Manila to Acapulco during the 250 years of the Manila Galleon trade".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Diamond
Mariana Alcala-Ramos
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Mariana Alcala-Ramos, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the ICA Elevator pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"The design of this pattern says a lot of technology, it was created using vinyl (a synthetic man-made material) and using the Die-cut vinyl process. The whole progress that took to create this project was technology-based. Without technology, it couldn’t have been done. From the beginning of it being designed on a computer program to being cut out with a machine".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process -Double Diamond
Ashley Bautista
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Ashley Bautista, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the Double Diamond pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"The pattern was originally intended to be used in the Islamic world. The intended purpose was to celebrate the Muslim faith by using the identifying geometric patterns of Islamic art. The pattern has evolved from being in religious buildings to mass-produced with the ability to be used in commercial stores".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - ICA Elevator
Gillian Smith
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Gillian Smith, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the ICA Elevator pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"Due to the ICA’s geometric, eccentric, and unique character, it’s only appropriate that every feature of the building carries at least a little of this idea. The pattern plays with light, shape, and size, as do most features of the museum. Founding Director Lisa Frieman considers light one of the main characters of the building and explains how there is a play between the geometric and the organic when considering shape (Institute for Contemporary Art). The pattern of the ICA’s elevator embodies this intention wholeheartedly, creating a space that can envelop its passenger in a world of light and line".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Intertwined Honeycomb
Kyle Johnston
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Kyle Johnston, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the Intertwined Honeycomb pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"This pattern though not indicated has a large indication towards the ancient and modern Islamic world. Islamic faiths used many of geometric patterns in their designs. The Muslim culture does not use iconography in their designs, they don’t believe in pictorially identifying their god, so they reverted to using geometric designs and patterns".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Islamic Tiling
Sophie Kozlowski
2019 Pattern Research Project
Sophie Kozlowski - Islamic Tiling
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Sophie Kozlowski, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the Islamic Tiling pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"This pattern consists of repeating 6x6” square tiles. These squares are each made up of individual tesserae that come together to form the pattern’s repeat. All the shapes in these tiles are varying geometries, meaning it is a tessellation, which is defined as “an arrangement of shapes closely fitted together, especially of polygons in a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping”.
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Mashrabiya
Izze Stadulis
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Izze Stadulis, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the ICA Elevator pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"This pattern is arranged in a hexagonal grid. Each repeat is placed side by side to eachother to create the entire pattern. The repeats themselves are also symmetrical and can be rotated 120 degrees in either direction and pivoted off of one of the birds and the pattern will form. If the repeat is rotated 120 degress it will remain in its original form".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Moorish Revival
Jenna Bramblet
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Jenna Bramblet, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the Moorish Revival pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"Moorish design and ar- chitecture is a branch off of Islamic design. From Moor- ish design comes several dif- ferent motifs. Exmples in- clude, arches, calligraphy, decorative tiles, and vegita-tive design. The Moors, were a group that originated in North Africa. After conquer- ing the Iberian Peninsula in the 700s, they controlled Spain, France and Portugal for many centuries".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Pearls
Tova Welenson
2019 Pattern Research Project
Tovahs Welenson - Pearls
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Tova Welenson, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the Pearls pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"Black circles appear to be layered over a white background but upon closer investigation, the color of this pattern that was used in the graduate is Zinc. Natural zinc is bluish-white or blue-gray in color. The “discovery of zinc traces to the Romans during the time of Augustus, between 20 B.C. and 14 A.D".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Pietra Dura
Zichen Zhou
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Zichen Zhou, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the Pietra Dura for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"The pattern was based on the Italian Renaissance concepts in which geometry and design elements are fused with one another forming a unique new direction in design. The designer said his design is not a copy of anything. It is based on the spirit of those Italian Renaissance concepts".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Pinnate Leaf
Miriam Gibson
2019 Pattern Research Project
Miriam Gibson - Pinnate Leaf
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Miriam Gibson, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the Pinnate Leaf pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"The pinnate leaf pattern may seem like it’s pulled straight from nature, but the curvature and arrangement of the leaf fronds is actually resemblant of the shape of laurel wreaths or crowns, which have a deep history of symbol-ism in several mythologies and societies".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Vintage Book Shelves
Sarah An
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Sarah An, VCU Interior Design BFA 2022, selected the ICA Elevator pattern for the 2019 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
"Trompe-l’oeil is a style of painting that started in 1800s. This was started by artist Louis-Léopold Boilly, a french painter. This pattern became popular to give a study room feel to create a cheaper option that didn’t take up a lot of space. This idea of using a bookshelf wallpaper instead of an actual bookshelf as decoration can cause a problem with the idea of authenticy and whether this is okay to create by losing the authenticty of having actual books in a space that people can smell, touch, and feel".
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Bogolanfini
Kassiah Skipwith
2018 Pattern Research Project
Kassiah Skipwith – Bogolanfini
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Kassiah Skipwith, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Bogolanfini pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“During the time period when the fabric was only available where the cloth was produced it was for more of the community and a traditional thing not just for fashion and how the design itself looks. The cloth was intentionally used for the hunters as a camouflage and as a ritual for protection. The women also wear it as for their initiation into their adulthood and also after childbirth. The cloth is believed to have a power to absorb all negative energy that’s released. Each design is meant to tell a story, but 2 designs are never meant to be thought of as the same. Some designs and motifs are to be thought of as protective attributes.”
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Cusp
Audrey Paiva
2018 Pattern Research Project
Audrey Paiva – Cusp
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Audrey Paiva, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Cusp pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“The main shapes used in Athos Bulcao’s work are circle and square forms. This is extremely significant because the traditional art of the Indians of Brazil features among other forms, the circle and the square. Also, within his work there is “admiration for different phases of Western art, particularly Byzantine art (form, color, texture)”. Most of Bulcao’s work was created right after the switch of the new capital city to Brasilia and “a radical change for Brazil. Athos does not believe in inspiration. For him, there is talent and hard work. “Arte é cosa mentale,” he says, quoting Leonardo da Vinci. While Athos Bulcao provided the modular units, he was unconcerned with how they would be arranged “preferring to have his collaborators arrange them themselves, following no preconceived order””.
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Family Tradition
Kyra Gilchrist
2018 Pattern Research Project
Kyra Gilchrist – Family Tradition
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Kyra Gilchrist, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Family Tradition pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“Anything can be considered damask as long as it has the general characteristics of the layout. Damask is mainly made from silk, although cotton, linen, wool, and synthetic fibers are also used. The colors used to create the pattern doesn’t have to be monochromatic at all, which makes picking a bold color to separate the foreground and background easier and more unique. It can be recreated digitally, simply for surface design, and handmade by using different techniques such as screen printing or even drawing and printing an image on a surface. The practice of weaving damask patterns developed in countries as a result of trade, colonizing, and mixing of culture. Damask weaving dates back to the 4thand 3rdcenturies.”
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Fruit Tree
Caitlin Sammons
2018 Pattern Research Project
Caitlin Sammons – Fruit Tree
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Caitlin Sammons, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Fruit Tree pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“This textile, made in 1961, was heavily influenced by the 1960’s op art, color and geometry movement. As Girard started to build the pattern, he played with multiple iterations beginning with shapes and geometry, then studies shadows, then colors and finally develops different iterations of his final studies put together. In this iteration of the motif the colors used are grays, red, yellows, and greens. During this time period these colors were very prominent. The op art movement brought symmetry and color inspire an illusion of movement or three dimensions. The branches on top of the fruit imply dimension through layering and they lead the eye around every fruit (the shapes) that implies a vertical linear pattern gridding for the repetition.”
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Golden Age
Michael Rogers
2018 Pattern Research Project
Michael Rogers – Golden Age
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Michael Rogers, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Golden Age pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“This pattern was intended as a piece of both propaganda and art and it has an extended audience that can be expanded to include the entire world as artist Ai Weiwei voiced his oppression and the oppressed that do not have a voice in China’s authoritarian state. Similar to historical precedents this wallpaper progression was intended to voice the ongoing strife felt by a group of people. Ai Weiwei has repeatedly used this term in his work, creating pieces is to be shared and seen by the masses in public and private spaces worldwide. This wallpaper pattern is meant to spark discussion on the issues of public versus private, seen globally.”
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Inlay
Amanda Gill
2018 Pattern Research Project
Amanda Gill – Inlay
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Amanda Gill, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Inlay pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“Inlay is constructed using an end-on-end nylon warp. This means that colored cotton thread is the warp and nylon is the vertical warp. A weaving machine is used for this process. Nylon is used as a polymer. The chemicals used to make nylon are amine, hexamethylene diamine, and adipic acid. The new amide molecules are held together by hydrogen atoms. Inlay is made of mostly cotton, using nylon from stretchability. There is no cultural or religious significance to Inlay, but its precedent pattern does. Inlay was not a direct result of the original tartan pattern, but they have similar characteristics. Both are consisted of vertical and horizontal lines laid out with a grid.
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Kaleidoscope
Tamara Bowen
2018 Pattern Research Project
Tamara Bowen- Kaleidoscope
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Tamara Bowen, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Kaleidoscope pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“Frank Lloyd Wright designed this pattern with the intention of selling it to people who could not live in one of his designed homes. He based all of the patterns on his architecture. The 706 or Kaleidoscope pattern was designed based on a diagonal floor plan that he used often by the 1950’s. He often used the diagonal floor plans when designing houses. The geometry of the floor plans are represented in the pattern. A combination of triangles are used within the repeat to create larger shapes throughout the pattern. These triangles can also be seen throughout his drafted drawings to create larger and more complex shapes”.
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Kiku
Yufei Zheng
2018 Pattern Research Project
Yufei Zheng- Kiku
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Yufei Zheng, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Kiku pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“The contemporary Kiku motif only depicted on the outline of the precedent Kiku pattern. There are lotus roundels and interlocking arabesques on the background to act as the sub-patterns layered as they create a more complex pattern (Suzanne, 2018). The pattern sample is made out of 100% yarn dyed plain, weaved linen. Linen is made from the fibers that grow inside of the Flax plant. It takes about two processes to extract the fibers from the plant: threshing, and retting (Tailor, 2013). The textile is airo finish, which means the linen was thrashed using air until it was soft to the touch. The sample feels smooth and soft compared to the regular linen fabric. The color blue used in the textile is inspired by the original 19th century Japanese futon cover. This textile also comes in green and red colors. The pattern and color are digital screen printed with ink in the UK.”
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Marble
Camryn Carels
2018 Pattern Research Project
Camryn Carels – Marble
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Camryn Carels, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Marble pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“The process of making the marble pattern is called “Marbling”. This technique started in the 1100’s in Turkey and Persia. These patterns were also used for the background of official documents and signatures. The art of marbling was then taken to Western Europe by crusaders. By the 1600’s France and the Netherlands began using this technique for bookbinding with the marble design being placed on the inside of books which is also still being used today. The marblers had their own secret society who had learned the craft and art. Only people who were born into it would be able to learn and pass on their knowledge to following generations. This is because many people would try and discover this technique and steal it for their own. To stop this from happening, marblers would often work at night in secret destinations behind closed and locked doors.”
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Pattern Research Project: An Investigation of The Pattern And Printing Process - Marigold
Emily Ballentine
2018 Pattern Research Project
Emily Ballentine - Marigold
The Pattern Research Project involves research and analysis of contemporary patterns found in the textiles and wallcoverings of the built interior environment. Patterns use motif, repetition, color, geometry, craft, technology, and space to communicate place, time, and concept. Through this research and analysis, built environments - their designers, occupants, construction, and context - can be better understood.
Emily Ballentine, VCU Interior Design BFA 2021, selected the Marigold pattern for the 2018 Pattern Research Project. The text below is excerpted from the student’s work:
“The sample of Marigold was screen-printed at Bradbury and Bradbury. Screen printing is a process that includes using a hand carved stencil for each layer represented. The printing table stretches 90 feet and is equipped with special knobs to adjust to the repeat of the pattern. A monofilament polyester screen covers and is tightly sealed to the artwork (the finished pattern that acts as a guide for where to place each stencil). Ink is pushed through the stencil using a squeege that runs up the surface, soaking the screen and then back down, scraping away access ink.”