Pattern Stories (Self Defining Memories)

Hello everyone. This will be one of the rare times my blog will have a humungo text entry. I would like to first off apologize for grammatical errors that will follow. I am not a writer. I am asking for support on a project I am working on for school. I am creating a blog for one of my classes about pattern design. This is something I am very interested in and want to explore more as a possible creative project/thesis. I would like to collect patterns and their stories that are meaningful to people and post them on my site. The idea is to connect visual patterns to histories and memories to tell a story. Patterns and textiles will serve as a platform for communication. This idea came to me when I visited my mom’s home where I grew up and I noticed the wallpaper, the tiles on the floor and textiles that brought back interesting narratives. I think that time plays an important role in the development of the connected meaning to these textiles and graphics. The role of the creator almost becomes irrelevant as time goes by, and those it is created for, who choose, live amongst, and associate with the designs become far more instrumental in putting rich meaning to the designs.*

Your story can be as long or short as you want. The accompanying pattern can be anything, for example: an image from a vacation, a dress, a tie, a Christmas tree skirt, wallpaper, a baby blanket, quilt, or a place mat. I would just ask that you send a little picture to me to go with the story. You can be pictured with the pattern if you would like. It could be a very old photo. If you want your story to be anonymous just let me know. I know this requires a little work on the participants part and I would love visit everyone who wants to participate and record a spoken story and take the photo to make it more convenient. I think maybe that could be arranged with some people, but for most, distance makes that difficult. I’m hoping that what I end up with will be an informative site, but also inspirational to visitors. Or it could be something that makes you laugh. Thank you for reading this long post!

Lauren
(lauren0521@gmail.com)