This Week in the Pattern World

It’s been a big week for the print and pattern world, especially if you’re in the midst of designing for Spring/Summer 15. I wore a few different hats over the past few days, which was an interesting learning experience- one that’s been fun but a little draining. In reality, being a jack of all trades isn’t that different from the day-to-day tasks of being a consultant, but in regard to Printsource and Premiere Vision/Indigo, it was a small feat to hop between being press and a presenter. Just a little note, I kept the shows separate, so there was never a conflict of interest.

Big News from Pattern Pulp Studio

For those of you who who don’t know, I just opened shop with a library of over a 100+ new prints for Pattern Pulp’s Textile Studio (yay)! It’s been wonderful and exhausting to juggle the balancing act of client work with painting and pattern production of an entirely new collection. That said, I’m pretty happy with how things have turned out…

As soon as the new website launches, everything will be online, and if you’re interested in licensing, purchasing, or potentially collaborating on product development together, please don’t hesitate to reach out. The categories are across the board, ranging from home, apparel and accessories for men, women and children.

Reflecting on Printsource

In all honesty, Printsource was as I had remembered it when I worked in corporate footwear design: a bit more conservative, a bit more mass. Kim and I had a wonderful time presenting and meeting with waves of buyers, artists, new business owners, fellow presenters and students. Interestingly though, we kept hearing that our work was particularly artsy and “haute couture” for the show. Weird, right? At first, it makes you wonder, “well hey, that’s cool, thanks!” But then you start to think, am I in the right place, among the right buyers?” It’s all a learning experience, you see…figuring your place in the market, deciding what brands are best suited to collaborate with. It makes me think that Premiere Vision might be a better fit for our next presentation.

Which leads me to the press portion of this post- the valuable tidbits from the shows. As usual, the Italian, French, British, Australian and Taiwanese presenters blew me out of the water.

Notable trends from Premiere Vision | Indigo

1. Wooden buttons with color accents were a thing, much like the furniture design world (Bottonificio)
2. Prisms are still a big deal, only now they’re a bit more messy, a bit more decayed
3. Texture collages are still an interesting form of storytelling, particularly in regard to ethnic prints
4. Landscape printed lace…absolutely stunning (Goutarel)
5. Large sketchy portraits (a la Great Gatsby)
6. Florescent geometric wovens
7. Shells, sea creatures and other animals out of context

A few studios from both shows that blew me out of the water:

1. Malhia Kent (France)
2. Alcantara
3. Liberty Art Fabrics (London)
4. Manitoba (Buenos Aires)
5. Amy Ormond (New York)
6. C.O.T.O by Takisada Osaka (Japan)
7. Gratacos
8. Seterie Aegunti
9. Kuku Kachu (Australia)
10. Ulysse Pila (France)
11. Gimoar (Italy)
12. Shinkong Textile Co (Taiwan)
13. Abby Lichtman Design (NYC)
14. Susanna Samson Design (London)
15. Minakani (France)
16. Philomela (California)
17. Print Fresh Studio (Pennsylvania)