Darb-i Doorwayposted 6 August 2008

Niccic

I think Islamic patterns and architecture are simply gorgeous, I wanted to bring a sense of its complex beauty into a contemporary design piece.

 

 

I assembled the majority of the basic shapes using a guide based on an Islamic decagonal pattern.

I avoided designing the image completely symmetrical because I wanted to create something that leaned towards a more contemporary and radical design. (Also philosophically I find the idea of perfect symmetry unappealing). I also tried to avoid creating a sense of hierarchy in the piece, rather a nicely enclosed balance; I hope it doesn’t feel hierarchical to you?

The entire A1 (594 × 841) image was created from scanned leaves that were stretched, turned and scaled to fit into the Islamic decagonal grid. I wanted the mathematical quality of the patterns to be balanced by something organic, leaves bought that extra bit of detail I was looking for (leaving me exhausted). Patterns are strange and meditative things... wow.

All images and text © Nicholas Cassey.