• Textile pattern design is a perfect example of art in an industrial setting, figured with mathematics and aesthetics to make something of beauty and visual interest for every-day and special occasion uses. The work has a sensibility process that explores ways to create a continuous visual flow while fitting diverse and related ideas and pieces into a greater scheme. It takes vision and acuity, supreme color sense and the ability to draw. In the manufacturing environment, it also requires understanding of color separation and printing processes, knowledge of color trends, and the ability to design patterns that work using different “colorways”.
“Colorways” is the word I heard used by textile design professionals, in my experience, and it means that you engineer the design to work with different color schemes, different colorways using the same pattern. It requires an understanding of printing assets and limitations built into the manufacturing processes.
Katherine Bloom 