Patterns from around the world
Art & Design · Key Stage 1 · The School
What makes a pattern
A PATTERN repeats. It might repeat a shape. It might repeat a colour. It might repeat both. It can repeat in a line, in a grid, or around a circle. Once you can see the repeating unit, you can copy it. You can carry it on. Spotting the unit is the whole skill.
Patterns people make
Different traditions have their own patterns. Islamic geometric patterns repeat shapes very precisely. Often they have no beginning and no end. West African kente cloth uses bold repeating stripes and blocks. Islamic tilework, Celtic knots, Indian block-printed fabric and Japanese wave patterns are all repeating designs. All of them have long histories.
Making your own
Choose one small unit. A shape and two colours is enough. Now repeat it in a straight line. Then repeat it in a grid. Then turn it a little each time. The same unit gives completely different results. That is why one good unit is worth more than lots of separate ideas.
ADINKRA, from Ghana: each stamped symbol stands for a proverb. Gye Nyame means the supremacy of God. TARTAN, from Scotland: the sett identifies a clan, so the pattern is a name. ISLAMIC GEOMETRY: repeating shapes built from a circle, developed as a way of expressing order without end. Now make a pattern of your own. Decide what it stands for BEFORE you draw it.