- Publisher
- Thames & Hudson
- Published
- 2005
- Shelf
- culture: The Pacific
- ISBN
- 9780500512371
The Pacific
Pacific Pattern
Susanne Kuchler & Graeme Were
Pattern across the Pacific, photographed large and explained as a system of knowledge rather than a set of motifs.
Why read it
This is the book to hand anyone who thinks a pattern is a surface. The argument running through it is that these designs carry genealogy, rank and ownership, so a motif is closer to a signature than to wallpaper, and copying one is closer to signing somebody else's name. The tapa and tivaevae sections are worth the price on their own.
Why own it
The photography is the reason. It is shot flat and close, at a size where you can actually read the construction, which almost no pattern book bothers to do.
Who it is for
Anyone building a pattern library, and anyone about to put a Polynesian motif on a package.
Opens a search on AbeBooks, a network of independent and antiquarian sellers, which is where a good part of this shelf has to be found, because it is out of print.
Read next
Chosen because they argue with this one, not because a machine noticed they share a category.
Also on the·culture shelf