Developing Design Approaches for Tile Pattern Designs Inspired by Traditional Textile Patterns

This article presents multidisciplinary research that involved design (i.e., textiles, tiles, pattern design), mathematics (i.e., symmetry and seven frieze groups) and a viewpoint on product design and development for business opportunities. This research comprised a design experiment and a survey. In the design experiment, two design approaches were created to translate the characteristics of traditional textile patterns into new pattern designs for floor tiles. These two design approaches were entitled: “partial replication”, and “combination and simplification”. The seven frieze groups were used as a transformation rule in both design approaches, resulting in two sets of frieze patterns. Although they were derived from the same origin, they looked different. A survey was conducted with 61 respondents to gain outsiders’ perspectives on these new pattern designs. The findings include: (i) positive responses to applying traditional textile patterns to other products, (ii) plausible products for pattern designs, (iii) preferences for design approaches and frieze patterns and (iv) opportunities for design research and education with other disciplines. This paper concludes with theoretical and practical implications for further research.