Bringing Travel Home - PATTERN
Patterns are all around us in our travels. It could be STRIPES in the fashion of France, the GEOMETRIC tiles of Spain or Morocco, the FLORALS all around in Bali, the ANIMAL PRINTS of an excursion in nature. Let’s dive into a few of these prints, and see how we can mix and match them to build the layers of the feeling of a place.
STRIPES
French fashion stripes are a small scale stripe. If change up the spacing, you could be in an English Cottage. If you go with a large scale strip and give it a sunny yellow, you could be under a cabana in a resort by the beach. Each has a vastly different feeling, all using the same pattern. Consider the scale and color of your stripes when giving a nod to your location.
GEOMETRICS
I mentioned tiles, yet these are not the only geometrics to draw from in travel. Taking a closer look at structures can reveal the strong geometric patterns in large stoneworks like cathedrals. Many block printed designs toe the line of organic patterns and geometric patterns, as they have the structure of geometrics with the looseness of organics. While you don’t need to incorporate every type of pattern, it’s important to remind ourselves that our view of “geometrics” may be skewed by what is marketed today as geometric. Geometric patterns are all around us, down to the angular shadows we see and the building blocks of nature.
FLORALS & BOTANICALS
Floral and botanical prints can be a really fun way to incorporate natural elements of the environment, especially when we are traveling to places with a vastly different ecosystem than we have at home. Local plantlife may be things like lotuses and protea, or cacti and succulents, or olive and fig trees. A US East Coast Autumn may be a significant visual for someone who lives where the seasons are not so distinctly marked. When you picture your location, think of the flowers and botanicals that were prevalent there. Incorporating these into your prints (or even your houseplants!) can help recreate the feelings of being surrounded by those plants in your travels.
ANIMAL PRINTS
Animal prints are treated rather like neutrals in the interiors world. They are an organic pattern that keeps the eye moving and can go with anything. If you were in a location with wildlife, this could be a great opportunity to incorporate that experience with animal print. You can get creative here! Animal prints come in all colors, so you can combine your wildlife experience with your chosen color palette if that’s more your style. And a black and white print will always help anchor a space.
SITE SPECIFIC PATTERNS
Not every location has iconic patterns like Spanish and Moroccan tiles, yet these iconic patterns can be powerhouses when trying to capture the feeling of a place. There are many more patterns that are ultra-site-specific, so if you can clearly picture the patterns seen in your location, you can use these patterns even in small doses to make a big impact. Consider Ikat patterns of Indonesia, India, and Southeast Asia. Or Wax Prints of Central and Western Africa. Or floral prints of the South Pacific. These patterns will pull a lot of weight in your interiors, as they are so strongly associated with specific places. As you layer in other decor items, you can let these patterns do the heavy lifting for you, as they will help the pieces around them feel like part of the experience if they are the right colors and textures.
Our next topic in the Bringing Travels Home series will be about lighting, light quality, and layering textures!
MORE ABOUT PATTERNS
I myself am a sucker for patterns. I LOVE pattern mixing and I find that it adds so much depth to a design. For more about pattern mixing and what to look for in a pattern, visit the Playing with Pattern Blog Post!
Do you have any favorite patterns? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
