Modular Exploration
Navigate thematic clusters like Silk Road textiles, ceramic tessellations, and sacred geometry. Data sets refresh regularly from museum APIs, revealing new pattern stories.
Enter the modules →Craft Intelligence
We weave together open cultural data, dynamic visual storytelling, and exploratory navigation. Each module interprets motifs through lenses of geography, technique, material, and symbolism.
Responsive to Context
Each dataset responds to your device and orientation. Fluid grids, swipe-ready sliders, and layered stories ensure the craft archive travels seamlessly across screens.
View spotlights →Dynamic Pattern Observatory
Live data from The Metropolitan Museum of Art surfaces a rotating selection of textile and craft patterns. Tap a tile to dive into material stories, dimensions, and provenance insights.
Geographies of Ornament
Patterns travel along trade winds and cultural exchanges. Explore motifs that migrated from one craft center to another, leaving traces in textiles, ceramics, wood, and metalwork.
Updated when collections publish new acquisitions or open-source archives.
Persia → Spain
Glazed Tiles
Hypnotic Luster Geometry
Moorish artisans reinterpreted Safavid star-and-cross tessellations, creating luminous courts across Andalusia.
View lineage ↗
Japan → Europe
Indigo Resist
Katazome Indigo Currents
Botanical swirls on kimono textiles influenced Art Nouveau designers across Parisian ateliers.
Trace influence ↗
West Africa → Americas
Kente Weave
Goldweight Lattice
Ashanti geometric scripts traveled with diaspora communities, resonating in Caribbean ceremonial cloth.
Learn symbolism ↗Chronicles of Craft Innovation
A trans-cultural timeline highlighting key milestones where artisans reimagined ornamental language through new materials and technologies.
Material
Technique
Migration
9th Century • Abbasid Caliphate
Glazed ceramic panels with Kufic calligraphy transform script into pattern, inspiring architectural friezes from Cairo to Cordoba.
01
15th Century • Silk Road Nexus
Lotus and peony medallions weave through brocades traded from Hangzhou to Samarkand, creating hybrid floral grammars.
02
19th Century • Arts & Crafts
Designers like William Morris reinterpret Persian carpet repeats into wallpapers, democratizing ornate interiors.
03
Spotlight Carousel
Pattern Field Notes
Short reads and curated glossaries expand your vocabulary of motifs, weaving techniques, and symbolism.
Arabesque
Ever-unfolding scrollwork derived from vines, embodying infinite growth and divine unity.
Silk Resist Conversations
How batik, ikat, and tie-dye artisans exchange techniques across Indonesian archipelagos and West African ateliers.
Collecting Motifs Responsibly
Principles for referencing patterns while honoring origin communities and preventing cultural extraction.