Kate Farley

Kate Farley

Geo / grid / star

Lino print

Fields of seemingly reliable compositions of geometric motifs provide the rhythm of assurance through repetition of geometric rhythms but the swapping of small details amongst the motifs unsettles the overall pattern and disrupts the repeating design.

6-spot rotation, multi-direction, Lino print, 24 x 24cm

Built upon Lewis F. Days’ principles of distribution of motifs in pattern design (1901), motifs are placed within a tile, 6 x 6 to provide balance and direction when repeated. As the second colour is applied the block has been rotated by 90 degrees in each printing of the tile over the original blue. The repeat is broken and a disorder is established.

This practical research explores and challenges repeating and evolving pattern. The notion of apparent repeating pattern that harbours disruption of expectation is investigated.

Kate Farley, Associate Professor of Design at Norwich University of the Arts combines a design practice with the academic role of Course Leader of BA Textile Design.

Kate’s practice-based research explores the notion of pattern as narrative through printed design structures and visual communication. The current focus is an exploration of pattern building through the rotation of the printing block.
Kate’s interest in traditional pattern making, cultural heritage and brand identity has resulted in commissions with clients such as Transport for London, David Mellor Design, Barbican Centre London, Birmingham International Airport and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Birmingham, fulfilling briefs for bespoke pattern, designing for retail products, large-scale exterior surface design projects and public spaces.
Kate has launched three collections under her own brand since 2012 featuring giftware and interior products with a focus on British manufacturing. Kate’s work is held in collections including Tate, British Library, Yale Centre for British Art and London Transport Museum.
Kate’s book, REPEAT Printed Pattern for Interiors, was published by Bloomsbury in early 2023.

katefarley.co.uk
katefarleyprint.co.uk

@katefarleyprint
k.farley@norwichuni.ac.uk

Yotam Smilansky on Kate Farley, ‘Geo / grid / star’ and ‘6-spot rotation, multi-direction’

We notice a certain form, a sense balance, but it might take us a little while before we realise exactly what's going on. Then we get it: the complicated object before us is made of a single ingredient, copied and superpositioned. It is surprising, even magical, how the unassuming process of layering rotated copies of a single pattern can result in a rich family of objects with a wide range of properties. This is evident, for example, in the moiré patterns of twisted bilayer graphene, where a slight change of angle results in completely different electrical properties, and is beautifully demonstrated in Farley's mesmerising prints.

Yotam Smilansky is a Lecturer in Dynamical Systems and Analysis at the University of Manchester, with a special interest in aspects of order and disorder in geometric patterns.