Neisha Crosland

Neisha Crosland sees pattern everywhere. Her extraordinary eye seeks out symmetry, order and structure wherever she goes: in artefacts, buildings, paintings and, above all, in nature. This book is a tribute to that talent: a visual feast of pattern, color, unexpected information and surprising personal stories. It is also an exploration of why pattern matters to every single one of us. Artists are often asked the origin of their ideas. This remarkably beautiful book is Neisha's answer to that question. She takes the reader from first spark of an idea to the finished product: exploring a myriad of cultural pathways and making unusual connections along the way. For in art, Neisha believes nothing is ever truly original. This book is a personal and revealing account of Neisha's own story as a designer, but it also draws on conversations about pattern she has had with musicians, mathematicians, psychotherapists as well as other designers. Beginning as an art student standing in the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, it travels through many continents and eras: from Mughal India to Moorish Spain, and from pilgrims on the route to Santiago de Compostela to Jacobean England. there are tales of mankind's earliest rituals, alongside explorations of 16th-century court dresses, Baroque wood carving, 17th-century shell-collecting and Russian Constructivist paintings. It ends in Japan over a delicious meal. There is fascinating technical detail, too, including wonderful examples of Neisha's early work using weaving and printing methods that have now vanished because of contemporary commercial pressures on mills and manufacturers. She also explores the ways a technique or color can completely reinvent a design, and how that design can alter its mood when placed in a different interior or when applied to a different medium or product. Working sketches illuminate her argument as well as visuals of her key sources of inspiration. Abundant photographs, too - showing Neisha's work in the interiors of fashionable restaurants, nightclubs, hotels and homes around the world - strikingly illustrate the text. The patterns themselves are stunningly animated by Anikst Design's specially commissioned photography: magazine files become skyscrapers, fine china glides across mirrors, rugs take to the air and fabrics appear like wild seasand rivers. The result is a kind of visual onomatopoeia as well as a thrillingly surreal visual experience for the reader. This book is a loving tribute to the power of pattern that will appeal to anyone who appreciates beauty and has ever wondered why their eye is so delighted.

"Twentieth-Century Pattern Design combines photographs - including many newly published images - with soundly researched text, creating an essential resource for enthusiasts and historians of modern design. The book also serves as a creative sourcebook for students and designers, inspiring new flights of fancy in pattern design."--Jacket.

Repeating patterns can soothe or energize us, bringing joy and harmony to everyday life. Repeat Printed Pattern for Interiors explores the power repeat patterns hold over us and what goes into creating original, effective printed designs. Beginning with the history of patterns in interior design, Kate Farley uncovers lessons from the work of Owen Jones, William Morris, Collier Campbell and Josef Frank. There are also interviews with some of the best contemporary pattern designers working today: Angie Lewin, Deborah Bowness, Eley Kishimoto, Emma J. Shipley, Galbraith & Paul, Neisha Crosland, Orla Kiely OBE, Sarah Campbell and Timorous Beasties. Each interview covers the designer's practice and ethos and includes a deconstruction of one design, with discussion of initial sketches, details of design development, manufacturing insights and images of final products. Covering hand-drawn techniques through to digital manipulation, you'll also be guided through the implications of visual language, colour statements, manufacturing considerations and commercial interior contexts to prepare you to jump in and start creating your own unique patterns.

This book celebrates inventive and inspired homes that are at once original and the product of visionary designers at the height of their powers. Making House features the houses and apartments of leading interior, furniture, and product designers—homes by designers, as designed for themselves—including the abodes of well-known figures such as Jonathan Adler, Marc Newson, Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci of Dimore Studio, and Stephen Sills. A great degree of inspiration is to be found among the personal homes and interiors of the masters. Designers, architects, and artists are free to experiment in a way that is unique, without any of the traditional limitations of a client-commissioned project. These are laboratories of invention. They are also private retreats, which offer a range of design solutions for common challenges from which the reader may glean new ideas and the motivation to make such ideas real. Beautifully illustrated, this volume is at once a document and a celebration of some of the most inspiring homes from around the world and the creative minds and personalities behind them, photographed specifically for this book.

An essential resource for any designer, crafter, artist, or historian, THE COMPLETE PATTERN DIRECTORY is the most comprehensive, practical, and beautiful directory of patterns throughout history, covering all periods, styles, and cultures. Throughout history, patterns have come in countless permutations of motif, color, and scale. From the first rhythmic marks pressed onto clay vessels, to the latest digital design, pattern-making has been an essential part of the decorative arts since time immemorial. With 1500 illustrations of patterns from all ages and cultures, THE COMPLETE PATTERN DIRECTORY is not only a visual feast, it is the most comprehensive resource available on the subject. The book is arranged thematically according to pattern type, with chapters on Flora, Fauna, Pictorial, Geometric, and Abstract designs. Each pattern includes the name of the pattern, the year of its creation, and a brief description. The categories are supplemented by in-depth features highlighting the work of key designers including William Morris, Sonia Delaunay, Charles and Ray Eames, Lucienne Day, and Orla Kiely, as well as sections detailing the characteristic motifs of key period styles from Baroque to Art Deco.

Originally published in hardcover in 2010.

Inspiring new ways to connect with the beauty of flowers in everyday life. Like the author’s exquisite first book, Bringing Nature Home, this much-awaited follow-up title presents stunning arrangements and ideas for interiors inspired by the beauty of flowers. Ngoc Minh Ngo has recorded the work of artists, designers, and tastemakers who demonstrate the many ways that flowers can enhance our homes and work spaces. Each chapter focuses on a unique way to incorporate floral designs into interiors, from flower arrangements made from foraged greenery to wall painting evoking Monet’s water lilies to paper flowers that never lose their vibrancy. Renowned photographer Oberto Gili fills his house in Italy with treasures from his bountiful garden that inspire his work, and landscape designer Miranda Brooks puts to use her passion for all things botanical in the decoration of her beautiful Brooklyn home. With exceptional photography that captures the beauty of these flower-inspired homes and text that shares how these imaginative artists and designers achieved their botanical creations, this is an irresistible book for flower lovers, decorators, and homeowners.

“One of those designers whose interior and furniture designs look discovered, not created . . . both comfortable and exquisite, calm and eclectic.” —Apartment Therapy Designer and merchant, collector and tastemaker, Thomas O’Brien has made a career of translating cool notions of modernism into an easy and generous array of modern styles that anyone can attain. Now he introduces readers to a range of those styles—from casual to formal, vintage to urban—alongside stunning photography and charming design stories. O’Brien carefully describes the design process of his chosen projects, including a downtown New York City loft, a traditional Connecticut estate, and a converted schoolhouse in eastern Long Island. Each home explores a view on the modern design spectrum he has created, as well as the individual choices that make the design unique and its mix essentially American. He explains not only what was at work to create a given style, but how readers can import those practices to their own homes and personal design sensibilities. Important design principles such as architectural authenticity, color relationships, correctness of scale, and informed collecting are threaded through a practical narrative that reads like a master class in interior design. American Modern is an inspiring design volume that will redefine the way readers think about modern interiors. “O’Brien carefully describes the design process of his chosen projects. Beautiful imagery and a unique layout describe his approach to design in a new and innovative way.” —LIFEMSTYLE “It’s like getting a glimpse into the studio paintings of a great master . . . I especially love how all of his spaces feel so gender neutral, the perfect balance.” —Cottage Farm