The art of decorating life, or What is a pattern

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

It is human nature to appreciate the beautiful, and he has always sought to bring it into his life. To do this, repeating dots and lines were applied to simple everyday objects, and then more complex patterns and ornaments. Many centuries have passed from ancient times to the present day, but even today, drawings with a repeating rhythm surround us and decorate our home and clothes. What is a pattern and an ornament, how are they similar and what are the differences between them? We will try to answer all these questions.

Pattern - what is it?

It should be noted right away that the word “pattern” appeared in Russian much earlier than the “ornament” borrowed from Latin. And, trying to emphasize the decorative function, the pattern was called "decoration". So what is a pattern?

This is a drawing in which colors, lines and shadows intertwine to create an image. Not only man can create it: nature daily demonstrates its capabilities,just remember the stunning frosty patterns on the windows.

Thus, you can answer the question of what a pattern is like this: it is a pattern, parts of which can be arranged arbitrarily. As soon as the elements of the pattern are ordered and systematized, an ornament appears.

Ornament

The concept of "ornament", which in the original meant decoration, got into the Russian language, acquired a slightly different meaning. Today, an ornament is understood as a pattern built from repeating motifs or elements rhythmically alternating in a certain order. Ornaments and patterns are used to decorate a variety of items and clothing, interior and exterior decoration of various buildings and even the human body in the form of tattoos.

Why are they needed?

For centuries, mankind has created and used patterns and ornaments not only to decorate their everyday lives. In many cultures of the peoples of the world, it is believed that special decorative images applied to clothes or a house can protect a person from various negative influences and bring good luck to him. In former times, according to what drawings, patterns or ornaments adorned a person’s clothes, one could obtain information about his marital status, social status and profession. In the modern European world, they are not filled with such deep information content, and often we simply do not know what a pattern or ornament is, what semantic load they carry. In some eastern countries, for example, India or Thailand, ornaments in combination withThe colors of clothes carry a large amount of information about a person, his social status and family, and patterns, for example, in the art of mehendi, can change a person's fate.

Classification based on motifs

All ornaments created by mankind over the centuries can be divided into separate groups, according to the main motif used in them:

1. Geometric, made up of abstract shapes such as dots and various kinds of lines and geometric shapes of varying complexity.
2. Vegetable, which uses stylized images of leaves, flowers and fruits in various combinations.
3. Animalistic or zoomorphic, which depict stylized or even fantastic birds and animals.
4. Anthropomorphic, use images of figures or body parts of people of both sexes.

All these types can be combined with each other in various combinations, for example, geometric shapes and floral motifs, as in arabesques.

Classification according to the form of construction

The following types of ornament are distinguished:

• Ribbon, created by repeating one or more elements in a strip.
• Continuous (mesh) is built for planes that in theory have no limits, for example, for fabrics. The repetition of its elements is possible indefinitely.
• Centric or compositionally closed, used to decorate various objects, placing repeating elements around a common center that unites them.

Ornaments and patterns have a long history, but to this day they are actively used to decorate clothes, human dwellings and their environment.