Between Line and Silence

 

How Japanese Woodblock Art Shaped My Direction as

 a Pattern Designer

Some styles are admired.
Others quietly become part of the way we see.

Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints — and especially the work of Katsushika Hokusai — were never just a visual reference for me. They became a way of thinking about nature, rhythm, and pattern.

(Hokusai - Wikipedia)

🌿 Nature as a Story, Not Decoration

Hokusai showed that a flower, a bird, or a wave does not need to be realistic to feel true.

In his work:

• line guides the eye,

• color breathes,

• composition allows space for silence.

That silence — the space between forms — is what resonated with me most deeply. It changed how I approach pattern design. I began to understand that richness does not come from density, and that rhythm can be more powerful than excess. A motif can repeat like a calm refrain, without overwhelming the eye.

 From Contour to Watercolor — My Own Choice

While painting my collections — Japanese loquats, roses, peonies, and now poinsettias — my creative direction became increasingly clear. I am drawn to:

• confident, intentional outlines,

• flat yet expressive areas of color,

• soft tonal transitions,

• botanical forms treated with sensitivity rather than strict realism.

Watercolor naturally became my medium. For me, it echoes the traditional bokashi technique used in Japanese woodblock printing — subtle color gradations that give life to form without disturbing its calm.

 Pattern as a Contemporary Continuation

When creating this pattern, I was not interested in quoting the past.
I wanted to continue a way of seeing.

What I take from Japanese aesthetics is not specific imagery, but a philosophy:

• pattern as storytelling,

• nature as symbol,

• ornament as something with depth and meaning.

This direction feels like a natural meeting point between:

• classical art,

• European sensibility,

• and contemporary surface design meant to live both on fabric and on walls.

 Why I Choose to Stay in This World

The longer I work as a designer, the less I am interested in short-lived trends. What draws me instead is timelessness — the kind found in historical woodblock prints and, above all, in nature itself.

This style:

• calms,

• creates order,

• invites repeated viewing, always revealing something new.

That is why I continue to develop my collections in this direction — as a pattern designer who believes that ornament can be a quiet form of contemplation.

The influence of Katsushika Hokusai remains clearly visible in contemporary design wherever ornament becomes narrative and nature is treated as a visual language rather than decoration — in the painterly, rhythmic prints of Dries Van Noten, the poetic florals of Alexander McQueen, the conscious dialogue with Japanese aesthetics in Maison Kitsuné, and in the world of wallpapers and textiles created by brands such as Liberty London, House of Hackney, Timorous Beasties, Cole & Son, and de Gournay, where flat line, repetition, and contemplative composition directly echo the philosophy of ukiyo-e and kachō-ga.

All my patterns in that style are ready to purchase on my website:

MhdyStudio