Pattern Design, Day (1903)

Posted on Jan 21, 2026 in blog

A book written to instruct in the creation of decoration, as one might find on wallpaper or cloth fabric, this work’s material is well-presented and extensively illustrated. There is some fiddlyness, in the electronic format, that results from the figures and corresponding discussion being so often on different pages. And, the author’s use of language does tend to be quite formal and somewhat archaic. Reading it from outside the author’s field, on a different continent, in a different era, several times it became necessary to look up a word so as to ensure understanding. But none of this marred the experience provided by this book. Reading it as a non-specialist, it was an entirely approachable and pleasant read.

Quotes

On Anarchy

“It is as though the artist said in the lines of his design: I claim my freedom, but I have due respect for law and order. And we like him the better for it. … We live in days when it is as well to be on our guard against a spirit of anarchy, which takes at times possession of us, inciting us to repudiate not merely outworn laws — the best of laws wear out in time — but the very need of any law at all. … The reign of anarchy would surely bring with it the ruin of design — the very existence of which is bound up with order.” — Pattern Design, Design p-248, Lewis Foreman Day (1903)

On Creativity

“What we think we imagine we more than half remember. Our wildest imagination is only a reflection of something which existed outside of us, in some sort a distorted image of it; and the personal accent, which comes of the mind's mirror not having a flat surface, counts, according to the quality of the individual mind, for or against the version (or perversion) of the fact which we call imagination.” — Pattern Design, Design p-261, Lewis Foreman Day (1903)