We don’t look at polka dots twice. Our brains immediately recognize that they’re a repeating pattern of dots. The same goes for plaid, chevron or any kind of design. We’re also able to look at a bunch ...

Among the sleek catalogues at the entrance to the Clifton Benevento Gallery sits a tattered hardcover, its paper jacket ripped to reveal the plain binding. This is artist Polly Apfelbaum’s copy of A ...

Where do patterns come from? While some might be computer-generated using the latest in image scanning and digital printing technologies, many more can be sourced to the Design Library–the world’s ...

Many people are using an old kind of road map to find their way back to the past: They are turning to historically inspired pattern books that help people build homes in classical ways, with ...

Derided in some quarters for being the preserve of the volume housebuilder, pattern books have a rich history and could yet play a part in the government’s new housing drive Pattern books might seem a ...