The power of
Lifestyle
Pattern
The founders of Patternity have earned their
stripes and are on a mission to show just how
much patterns can do.
W
hat do a stripy sofa, a stickleback,
and a serial killer have in common? Well, more than you might
think. They all come up within Anna Murray
and Grace Winteringham, founders and
chief creative minds behind the organisation that is Patternity. Their business if you
didn’t guess is patterns and since 2009 they
have grown to become the go to authority on
the subject. With a pattern image archive, a
research/consultancy department, a creative studio and an events and education hub,
their collaborators (don’t call them “clients”)
include brands from Apple to Céline, and
institutions such as the V&A and the Imperial War Museum it’s easy to be swept up in
Patternity’s core belief that “a shared engagement with pattern can have positive and
powerful results”.
Yes there are stripes. And this, according to
Winteringham, is the overriding perception
of what they do. “People coming to our events expect to see
loads of stripy stuff and they
do but there is so much more
to it than that…” Pattern may be
the unsung hero of surface design
but when you think about the big picture, the
part that it has to play in our lives, it is a huge
mine of information and, by extension, an
incredible means of communication. From
daily routines to business structures to relationships and nature, spotting patterns is a
part of the human condition and has become
our primary way of learning about the world
we live in.
Murray and Winteringham originally met
through friends at university, where they
were, “united by their shared visual aesthetic
and drive to create something worthwhile
with longevity.” Pattern was their common
language and they established the com-
Anna Murray and
Grace Winteringham
pany as a platform to showcase their work
and to encourage “a new way of seeing”. In
the five years since Patternity has evolved
from something purely visually engaging to
a brand that goes far beneath the surface
with a core mission “to use the universal
language of pattern as a tool to help people
better understand life”.
Today, the duo collaborates with companies,
institutions and individuals, using pattern
as a narrative tool helping to elevate traditional crafts with a new language, and to tell
compelling stories through product lines,
events and educational initiatives. “They aim
to work on as many aspects of their projects
as possible to date all of their collaborators
Richard Brendon x Patternity
Patternity’s Stripe Hunt
have come to them for their specialist pattern focused approach from design to creative direction and event production.”
A recent project with Richard Brendon involved rethinking traditional bone china with
a beautiful cobalt blue and gold striped tea
service that not only brought a new customer
to the category but also caught the eye of
Fortnum & Mason, who went on to produce a
limited edition range in their own signature
eau de nil colour.
Last year the duo piqued public interest
when they masterminded a cultural festival
of pattern focused purely on stripes. “Superstripe” was a graphic and fantastically
monochrome exhibition bringing together
illuminating minds from the worlds of fashion,
art, design, health, science, technology and the
environment.
There is no standard Patternity project. However they must always feel that it s ]