Blogs We Love – Surface Pattern Inspiration!

Hello everyone!

We hope you have had a wonderful weekend & are ready to begin a shiny new week! Before we dig into today’s post, we want to help you start your Monday off with a big boost of positivity, so lets all take a moment to smile as big & bright as we can!

Now lets get onto some creative inspiration! If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you may have seen the first in our Blogs We Love series (if not, take a peek here!) We went through the Rock My Inc series, which is a fabulous trio of blogs we frequent for wedding, home & general life inspo.

Since Rachael is a surface pattern designer, we also love reading blogs that explore this ever growing area of design. Surface pattern is really exploding on the design scene & we couldn’t be happier – prints & patterns are super expressive art forms & encompass so many fun, creative processes all at once. From doodling motifs, choosing colours, layering, applying texture, surface pattern design really encourages us to break the boundaries of our own creativity & should be celebrated!

So today, we wanted to provide you with a little collection of our utmost favourite surface pattern blogs. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Print & Pattern is one of our all time favourite places to go for surface pattern inspiration. Ran by a designer who blogs under the pseudonym Bowie Style, P&P is a “UK based website that celebrates all aspects of printed surface pattern.” Each week Bowie rounds up the latest news & trends in the print & pattern world, including collections from high street shops like Paperchase & the latest from big & small designers all over! In describing her blog a bit further, Bowie says:

I look at textiles, cards, gift wrap, stationery, wallpaper, tableware, books, illustration, and anything that fits my love of printed patterns and motifs. I  feature lovely products you can buy, designers or studios you can commission, graduates you can hire, and collect inspirational design from all over the world that will get your creative juices going.

Bowie’s passion for pattern & print has also lead her to success in publishing! To date, Bowie has released two P&P books, both of which feature Rachael’s work! You can get your hands on your own copies here!

Spoonflower is another fabulous resource for surface pattern inspiration. Based in Durham, North Carolina, SF is made up of an ever growing creative, tech-savvy team, six of which run their fabulous blog. As SF is largely focused on the printing of fabric & textiles, it’s no surprise that the blog often has lots of pattern inspiration & bespoke features that we love. Commenting on their own creative success, Spoonflower says:

[We] have been made possible by the enthusiasm of a worldwide community of people who are passionate about fabric, design and making things. The community now numbers over a million individuals who use their own fabric to make curtains, quilts, clothes, bags, furniture, dolls, pillows, framed artwork, costumes, banners and much, much more!

Spoonflower also have regular updates around DIY projects across sewing, upholstering, crafting, & pretty much anything you’d need to know about working with fabric & textiles! It truly is a fabulous resource for creatives & we absolutely love it!

Make it in Design is the world’s leading online school for textile, print and surface pattern design & was founded through a collaboration between our very own Rachael Taylor & entrepreneur Beth Kempton. The MIID blog, lead by Rachael, Beth & a dedicated creative team, is a fabulous & refreshing resource for those seeking surface pattern inspiration. In describing what they do best, the MIID team says:

[We] provide a rich source of design ideas and inspiration, demonstrations, resources, creative exercises, opportunities, practical advice, interviews, contacts, and lots of encouragement to help nurture new talent and support established surface pattern designers to succeed in this exciting industry.

The collections seen on the Make It In Design blog are truly unique, as much of the featured work is that of the talented MIID students & alumni. The courses they take, part of  The Art & Business of Surface Pattern Design, have helped to establish & grow their careers as designers. If you’d like to see some examples, be sure to check out the blog or the MIID ‘Alumni success‘ page!

We hope you have enjoyed our Blogs We Love series today – be sure to check back in a couple weeks for another instalment! We’ve got plenty more surface pattern inspiration that we’d like to share along with our other favourite creative resources! Wishing you all a wonderful Monday & a week filled with positive & happy vibes!

Posted by: Holly