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A caped drifter, rendered like an icon, sitting cross-legged in front of a hexagonal cityscape overlaid on bright stripes.

Instant Patterns

Endless Supply of Ornaments

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Pattern Frenzy

I cannot get enough of repeating patterns1. Millions are already tiling and twisting on every surface on the web and in fashion sourcebooks. I would need years to view half of them. What if I could dial in the exact patterns of my fancy, without putting any work in?

Industrializing Pattern Design

Familiar with the arcane, dice-powered method of Douat2, I set out to program the ultimate virtual kaleidoscope3. One that could automatically render a limitless supply of original, tileable ornaments. Now in its sixth iteration, it does indeed do that better than myself.

Patterns on Demand

I can input parameters like color harmony, level of detail or symmetry and the program will smoothly rebuild and transform patterns in real-time without any further instruction. See some samples below and tell me if they measure up.

A geometric ornament of red hexagons inscribed with light pink forked designs and the corners notched by blue triangles. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Arrows
Black and blue triangles with electrically pulsing outline, red and grey medallions at their vertices. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Cool
An ornament of interlocking triangles filled with concentric polygons and subdivided into alternating sections of yellow and dark green. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Red
Ornate blue circles on wine-red background, evoking gothic traceries. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Wax
A geometric ornament of red hexagons inscribed with light pink forked designs and the corners notched by blue triangles. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Crystal
Black and blue triangles with electrically pulsing outline, red and grey medallions at their vertices. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Arctic
An ornament of interlocking triangles filled with concentric polygons and subdivided into alternating sections of yellow and dark green. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Progress
Ornate blue circles on wine-red background, evoking gothic traceries. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Brocade
A kaleidoscopic ornament of blue beams radiating from the center of hexagons inscribed with red squares, recalling abstract vintage wallpapers. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Mesa
Purple inlaid hexagonal ornament with a center green star with sharp points. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Tashkent
Ornate blue circles on wine-red background, evoking gothic traceries. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Vintage
Purple inlaid hexagonal ornament with a center green star with sharp points. +

Generative Ornamental Tile | D.W. '24

Piano
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Footnotes

  • 1↑ If you want to buy one ornament book only, take either Jones' Grammar of Ornament or Racinet's Polychromatic Ornament. You may want to supplement them with more contemporary books like Phillips' Repeat Patterns and with country-specific monographs like Takazieva & Tanaka's Book of Crests and Designs later.
  • 2↑ Dominique Douat was a Carmelite monk and mathematician. He invented the characteristically slashed-through square tile that is the source of so many generative patterns of today. You may be more familiar with the work of his successor Sebastien Truchet. See their work Methode pour faire une InfiniteĢ de Desseins differens [...] from 1722.
  • 3↑ From greek "to see beautiful things" - indeed. Only that the 17 wallpaper groups require rotations and shifts in addition to mirroring. I use the term as a shorthand only.