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After the previous blog post “15 books about colors” here we are with another content for colors and pattern enthusiast: 15 books about print&pattern!

You have just to choose what you want to read: from historical to digital prints, from the history of textile design to iconic and colorful patterns, you can also find one book for children.

This selection is also made in collaboration with the textile designer Silvia Stella Osella, here you can find some of the books she mentioned during our Instagram direct that you can find here as an interview.

Spectrum. Heritage Pattern and Colours

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has a wonderful textile heritage and archive. This interesting volume analyzes the chromatic proportions used in wallpapers and textiles from the 15th century to today.

V&A Pattern

Another book from the Victoria & Albert Museum archive: Kimono, Owen Jones, Garden Florals, Novelity Patterns e anche William Morris.

Patterns: Inside the Design Library

A very interesting peek into the Design Library, the world’s largest archive of surface design. 

Maija Isola: Art, Fabric, Marimekko

The biography of one of the absolute myths of textile design, the creator of Marimekko‘s iconic prints, Maija Isola.

William Morris’s Flowers

We couldn’t not to mention this beautiful collection of one of the print masters: William Morris. He was one of the founders of the Arts & Crafts Movement, the late 19th century British artistic movement that revolutionized the applied arts and made an important contribution to the traditional textile arts.

Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois

“How will I explain to my kid what is my job? I will probably begin by reading this book to him, the story of the French artist Louise Bourgeois – another of my myths – and her magical relationship with fabrics, materials and colors.” Silvia Stella Osella, textile and surface designer, here you can find our interview talking about textile designers and color trends.

The Complete Pattern Directory: 1500 Designs from All Ages and Cultures

Over 1500 illustrations, a huge collection of patterns and prints from all eras and styles organized by themes: plants and flowers, animals, geometric, abstract and figurative patterns.

The Pattern Base: Over 550 Contemporary Textile and Surface Designs

It includes illustrative, abstract, geometric, floral, representational and digital designs; and knitted, woven, hand-dyed and digitally printed fabrics. Illustrated biographies introduce 13 of the most significant and innovative textiles designers working today. 

Print & Pattern: Geometric

Tribal, Aztec, and Native American designs, along with Scandinavian influences and more mathematical and scientific looks in a print and pattern geometric collection.

Print & Pattern: Nature

Another “Print&Pattern” book, this time with prints and patterns inspired to nature.

The Grammar of Ornament: A Visual Reference of Form and Colour in Architecture and the Decorative Arts

First published in 1856, The Grammar of Ornament is a design classic from pioneering British architect and designer Owen Jones.

The World of Ornament

Another great design classic that brings together two large encyclopedic collections of 19th century ornaments: “L’Ornement polychrome” and “L’Ornement des tissus”.
With the book you also have access to an online database of images and decorative patterns that you can also download in high resolution.

How to Make Repeat Patterns: A Guide for Designers, Architects and Artists

This book explains in simple steps how to create repeat patterns for designers, architects and artists.

The Pattern Sourcebook: A Century of Surface Design

Over 350 images from the last 100 years of surface design.

Textile Designs: Two Hundred Years of European and American Patterns Organized by Motif, Style, Color, Layout and Period

1823 illustratrions organized by motif, style, color, layout and period over 200 years of history of textile design in Europe and America.

So many beautiful books here! Which one is your favorite?

 

Photo cover Silvia Stella Osella, credit Michael Gardenia