Pattern

Cumberland Furniture Cuff metal polka detail

It seems all humans are hard wired to look for patterns. Scientists believe it is part of our survival instincts; gatherers would make note of what features of the landscape were present when they were successful finding food. Hunters would learn from sounds of rustling or movement that their might be prey (or they might be the ones being hunted). We use patterns to derive meaning; some argue that pattern recognition and intelligence are the same thing.

The trick is using patterns to give space a sense of order without going too far - and the space becoming disordered. The same hold trues for furniture: too much going on and the simplest lines can look bad. Adding pattern becomes quite a difficult thing - especially for today’s shapes that are not uniform. Scale and balance have to be precise.

I love suppliers who are adding patterns to materials in new ways - creating a new design language. I do not know if it is a sign of intelligence to specify products with patterns but it certainly prevents our from from becoming boring!