Designing

At first glance, the designing of parquet deformations may look fiendishly difficult, with the impression given of an initial tile (such as a square), being successively deformed from contiguous tiles, resulting in at the end a tile/s of a completely different tile to the starting tile, of which the design process does not seem a simple matter to accomplish. Although as a broadly simplified statement, this is indeed the impression, I do not design this way. Rather, I take a more 'global' approach, of a two-stage process, involving a tempo of 10 (detailed below):

1. What I term as an 'open grid'¹, in which a geometric motif is typically successively expanded, rotated, or flexed, either inside a repeat cell (e.g. a square) or on the vertices of the grid.

2. To the 'open grid' I then simply join the lines in a more or less obvious way.

All this is more easily pictured than described, of which I show two instances, of an expanding line

Fig. 1a. Open Grid

Fig. 1b. Joining Lines

Fig. 2a. Open Grid

Fig. 2b. Joining Lines

The stunningly beautiful outcome despite a complex effect belies the sheer simplicity! Indeed, it's almost childlike in its simplicity and yet it is so effective!

¹ I must admit, I don't fully favour the description, but it's difficult to think of something more suitable. The term 'open grid' seems a contradiction in terms; a grid is by its very nature is closed, not open! Suggestions for a better description are invited! 

Created 31 May 2024. Last Updated 31 May 2024