{"id":2496,"date":"2012-11-15T13:52:32","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T13:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aulas.pro.br\/paulo\/?p=2496"},"modified":"2012-11-15T13:52:32","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T13:52:32","slug":"a-tour-of-philadelphia-universitys-patterns-archive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/?p=2496","title":{"rendered":"A Tour of Philadelphia University\u2019s Patterns Archive"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Tour of Philadelphia University\u2019s Patterns Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Gilded-Age Dogs Atop Penny-Farthings: A Tour of Philadelphia University\u2019s Patterns Archive<\/h3>\n

by\u00a0JUDE STEWART\u00a0on\u00a0NOVEMBER 9, 2012<\/abbr><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
Imprint’s longtime color columnist,\u00a0Jude Stewart<\/a>, is writing a new series on\u00a0patterns in design<\/a>. Previously, she asked whether\u00a0ornament is really a crime<\/a>\u00a0and spoke to the founders of\u00a0a London-based “pattern consultancy.”\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n

\"Dogs<\/a><\/p>\n

Dogs on bicycles. All images from http:\/\/thedesigncenter.tumblr.com\/ unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n

As part of my new series on pattern, I spoke recently with Sarah Moore, the textile curator of Philadelphia University\u2019s Design Center.\u00a0Moore is the driving force behind\u00a0the Design Center\u2019s smashing Tumblr<\/a>, which has been named\u00a0a top Tumblr pick for design<\/a>. She aims to digitize and share 9,000 pattern swatches from the Design Center\u2019s collection, via Tumblr as well as upcoming iPhone and iPad apps, thanks to a grant by the Barra Foundation. (That\u2019s out of 200,000 total patterns housed at the Design Center\u2019s archives, concentrating on Philadelphia and Manchester designs from the 1880s to 1910s.)<\/p>\n

What forces animated the imagination of pattern designers in the Gilded Age? When Moore paws through the collection, what storylines does she recognize that the rest of us miss? These are some of the questions I asked in her our conversation\u2014and Moore didn\u2019t disappoint, taking me through a fascinating tour of her personal favorites. Here are the highlights, with Moore’s commentary:<\/p>\n

Our Tumblr started last February. We have 200,000 fabric swatches in our archive, so I want the world to see them\u2014I\u2019m so enamored of their variety, their unexpectedness. Tumblr\u2019s a great format for posting a variety of objects. They\u2019re easy to digitize because the swatch cards are flat.<\/p>\n

To walk you through some of my favorites, let\u2019s start with the pattern of hands doing sign language, which dates to 1882. This was very popular on our blog.<\/p>\n

\"Sign<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign language<\/p>\n

It prompted me to ask: when was American Sign Language invented? Turns out ASL was introduced by the Association for the Deaf in 1880, in Ohio. Folks were advocating for deaf culture a lot at that time, so this pattern must be an outgrowth of that.<\/p>\n

\"Grumpy<\/a><\/p>\n

Grumpy man<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This pattern we dubbed the grumpy-man print. It\u2019s from England, 1883, and resembles many period caricatures of [politician] William Gladstone. Whether it\u2019s satirical or not is hard to tell. Cotton prints like these would\u2019ve been used for aprons or homewear, dresses for middle to lower-class women, possibly children\u2019s wear. This one is roller printed and hand-engraved. I\u2019m always impressed by the detail of the engraving.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really drawn to the conversational prints, like the dogs on big-wheel bicycles of that period. [Ed: That image opens the post. I\u2019m delighted to inform you that this style of bicycle was known as a \u201cpenny-farthing,\u201d because they resemble penny and farthing coins side by side.]<\/p>\n

\"Jumbled<\/a><\/p>\n

Jumbled with rocket man<\/p>\n

I always wonder: Why did the designer make this design decision? Like this strange one of toys and people together, all jumbled and small-scale. It includes what looks like a man wearing a jet-pack. Were rockets popular during that time [1883]? You\u2019ll also see sailboats in there and magicians.<\/p>\n

We have a bunch of patterns that are cellular-looking in quality. Lots of middle-class people purchased microscopes and looked at slides during that time. They were simply fascinated by science. It\u2019s very curious how microscopes influenced design during that period. Quite a few I\u2019ve seen going through drawers have this fractal or crystalline quality, and interesting repeats as well.<\/p>\n

\"Cellular<\/a><\/p>\n

Cellular print<\/p>\n

\"Cellular<\/a><\/p>\n

Cellular print<\/p>\n

\"Cellular<\/a><\/p>\n

Cellular print<\/p>\n

\"Cellular<\/a><\/p>\n

Cellular print<\/p>\n

You can really tell the difference between the American and European patterns from the period. As we were scanning cards, you can see much more complexity there are in the French and European prints.<\/p>\n

\"Umbrellas,<\/a><\/p>\n

Umbrellas<\/p>\n

I feel like I think in patterns all the time. We\u2019re scanning with four interns every day. I can recognize a company by the colors:\u00a0Oh, this is definitely by Schwabe.\u00a0Almost individual designers\u2019 hands you can recognize. Our upcoming iPhone and iPad apps will use visual search recognition, so you can pull up info about who made each pattern. It\u2019ll be the first time that\u2019s been applied to textiles.<\/p>\n

Back then designers had to meet a quota of new designs per week. That\u2019s why you get these mundane designs, like nails or screw hooks; that\u2019s why they were so inventive. They were really pushing that Victorian spirit to collect, and everyone had a big interest in industry. Department store buyers also bought unfinished fabrics [to resell], and industrially employed people were earning good money and wanting to spend it. I especially like the warthogs jumping over sewing pins. Whatever inspired someone to draw\u00a0that?<\/p>\n

\"Nail<\/a><\/p>\n

Nail print<\/p>\n

\"Dog<\/a><\/p>\n

Dog pins<\/p>\n

\"Screw<\/a><\/p>\n

Screw hooks<\/p>\n

\"Wrench<\/a><\/p>\n

Wrench print<\/p>\n

\"Warthogs<\/a><\/p>\n

Warthogs and sewing pins<\/p>\n

Here are some patterns of weaponry: dynamite, bullets, cannons. Corporations today do so much research into what people might buy. [Back then] manufacturers would just put designs out there.<\/p>\n

\"Bullets,<\/a><\/p>\n

Bullets<\/p>\n

\"Cannons,<\/a><\/p>\n

Cannons<\/p>\n

\"Dynamite,<\/a><\/p>\n

Dynamite<\/p>\n

Another take on industrialization were\u00a0trompe l\u2019oeil\u00a0patterns. They\u2019d try to replicate ikat or warp prints that would be expensive to produce fully; instead they\u2019d just print the fabric to look like that\u2014for instance, this false lace.<\/p>\n

\"Printed<\/a><\/p>\n

Printed lace<\/p>\n

We do work with design teams within the Philadelphia region to re-use these designs. Urban Outfitters is based here, so they come in every six months or so to collaborate with us. This Free People dress uses an 1880 print from our collection of badminton birdies flying through the air. It\u2019s a personal favorite for me.<\/p>\n

\"Badminton<\/a><\/p>\n

Badminton birdie original print, 1885<\/p>\n

\"Free<\/a><\/p>\n

Free People’s Wild Horses dress: http:\/\/www.freepeople.com\/august-catalog-sneak-preview\/wild-horses-dress-25646076\/<\/p>\n

There was lots of inventiveness happening at that time, and lots of artistry going into the industry. These designers were hand-drawing dozens of designs weekly and mechanizing them afterwards. When I first took my interns through the archive, one of them said: I\u2019ll never think I had a unique design idea after seeing this.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

DK Holland’s\u00a0Design Issues<\/a>\u00a0explores how graphic design communicates with, rubs up against, and sometimes stumbles around the “real” world.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0A Tour of Philadelphia University\u2019s Patterns Archive<\/a>
\nFor great design products, visit our online store:\u00a0MyDesignShop.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Tour of Philadelphia University\u2019s Patterns Archive. Gilded-Age Dogs Atop Penny-Farthings: A Tour of Philadelphia University\u2019s Patterns Archive by\u00a0JUDE STEWART\u00a0on\u00a0NOVEMBER 9, 2012 Imprint’s longtime color columnist,\u00a0Jude Stewart, is writing a new series on\u00a0patterns in design. Previously, she asked whether\u00a0ornament is really a crime\u00a0and spoke to the founders of\u00a0a London-based “pattern consultancy.”\u00a0 Dogs on bicycles. All […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academica","category-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2496"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2511,"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions\/2511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulopedott.com\/paulo\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}