Response: Deep Surface: Ornament and Pattern

Humans have always wanted to give more meaning to our lives, developing ways to embellish our lives.  “We demand more of existence than mere survival.” Pattern and ornaments are meant to engage the eye however, like transformers there’s more than meets the eye. Recognizing pattern among things allows us to add layers of meaning with visual context and embellish how we see the world. A deaf person often times cannot read because letters are just symbols when you take away sound. Pattern is the language of silence. Ornament and pattern are form-based languages visually articulating our ideas. “Contemporary ornament communicates histories, customs, lore, and a shared appreciation of craft”. Ornamentation has the power to narrate and make us better at understanding and appreciating the things we often take for granted. Design can call our attention to over-looked aspects of daily life, full of movement. Yet, our everyday surroundings give us the illusion of stability and permanence.

Ornament has the ability to adapt and change with different contexts and aesthetics over time. The article organizes contemporary artist and designers who make and use patterns and ornaments into 6 themes. Amplification, designers intensify ornament or patterns making them more complex in order to tell stories and make simple objects beautiful. The Everyday takes everyday objects and imposes patterns and ornaments that change your views on these objects. Kits-of-parts is open-minded, offering options and play. Elaboration makes things more complex being able to translate into the digital world with its intricacies. Inheritances manipulate old patterns, reviving them to make new ones and harkens back to tradition. Fantasy exists to amuse and possibly provoke thought. Something that stood out to me was how great of an influence ornament and pattern has on the modern world. The article showed different styles and variations of ornament and pattern and helping the reader to open their mind to how immense and imposing ornament and pattern are. Pattern and Ornamentation encompass our daily lives in such subtle ways it’s hard to pay attention to unless we consciously make the decision to “stop and smell the roses.”