Book Review: Patternity - A New Way of Seeing

Patternity: A New Way of Seeing: The Inspiration Power of Pattern

 by Anne Murray and Grace Winteringham

Published by Conran Octopus 2015

 

Pattern is everywhere we go and in everything we do. Of course, as design minded people we know that pattern exists in everything in the home, from fabric to wallpaper to carpet; but there are millions of patterns we fail to see, or likely pay no attention to. PATTERNITY, a comprehensive archive of pattern compiled by Anne Murray and Grace Winteringham is a habit-forming website you'll need to know if you don't already, and their book Patternity: A New Way of Seeing: The Inspiration Power of Pattern will become as wonderful a resource! The book considers pattern in three parts:

• Curiosity - pattern inspiration and awareness
• Collaboration - pattern innovation and championing cross-disciplinary collaboration
• Connectivity - pattern exploration, interconnectivity and scale, from micro to macro

Their site, and their new book, is more than just a carefully collected vault of beautiful images, showcasing pattern. It's a sort of social study in pattern - in life - and what we see and don't see, what we experience without truly grasping, and how we are all connected to our environment and each other through pattern we experience equally, every minute of our day.

 

The book is an anthology of vivid and stunning photos. Truly a coffee table book by design while maintaining a text book integrity with valuable and skillful introductions and explanations by the authors. A few of my favorite images, and their pattern explanation:

 

Car Park Crosses, PATTERNITY, Hong Kong

 

Triangle

The rarest of all naturally occurring shapes, it has influenced our environment in a myriad of subtle ways, from dress and skirt shapes to church spires and even rocket components.

 

Bending Bin, PATTERNITY, Croatia

 

Square

A disruption of lucidity, instantly recognizable, deeply pacifying. No where is the square more clearly employed as a symbol of modern civilization than in a town square: a public space that was created for political mediation and social interaction.

 

Lane Lines, Rory van Millingen, fashion: Kiko Kostadinov

 

Stripes

The stripe serves to add character and identity, simple and unique, binary.

 

The book goes into great intellectual detail about shape, texture, and design - asking for thoughtful consideration of the balance and interconnectivity of pattern in our environments. If you're a reader (and I'm sure many of you are - hence this blog) and you're also a lover of design - you'll definitely want to put Patternity: A New Way of Seeing: The Inspiration Power of Pattern on your Must Have list.

 

With the education you'll receive of how pattern works, how it's perceived and how we meander through pattern to create looks that are covetable - you'll be able to look at your home, your wardrobe, and your environment in a whole new way!  Grab your copy via the Amazon link below.