Discovery Collection Inspiration ~ 2
10.02.2014 § Leave a comment
Below are some more of the stories from my travels that sparked design ideas and eventually led to the patterns in our spring 2014 Discovery collection.
Lumen
The National History Museum in Taipei is located in a botanical garden with a huge lotus pond, not too far from my undergraduate college, the National Normal University. My friend and I would go there very often, and after viewing the exhibition we would always buy a cup of tea and some sweets in the luminous cafeteria and look out on the ocean of blooming lotuses fluttering in the breeze. I can never forget that scene and the satisfaction that the tranquil environment gave me.
I saw many exhibitions there. The pottery in this picture is very similar to the ones in the National History Museum. It belongs to the so-called Cai Tao Culture from our history books. Cai Tao potteries are from 7800 years ago (Neolithic Period); this one and many of the others were excavated from the Silk Road areas in China. The primitive motifs, burned into my mind since my college years, have manifested many times through my work. Lumen is one such manifestation.
Utopia
During my undergraduate years at National Normal University in Taipei, my Chinese art history teacher was the vice president of the Taipei Palace Museum. His class often included museum visits, and we were so very familiar with the paintings in that museum. I have always felt that Chinese brush painting techniques can be explored in textile design, especially the way they approach trees. Chinese loved to draw pine needles. In a large scenery painting, the artist depicts the trees with rich textures with triangles, circles, small squares, diagonal lines, sharp radiating lines, etc. Our patten Utopia was born from this idea. The design is woven on a solid warp with triple weft construction, but the sumptuous visual effect expresses the landscape of a tapestry-like epic.
Autumn Studio by Wang Yuanqi from The Metropolitan Museum
A Garden “Mountain” by Yuan Jiang from the Metropolitan Museum
Brentano pattern Utopia
Woven-Words 
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