Playful Toile - Flesh
DPYT 249
Lookbook: PROJECT: HI > AI
PROJECT: HI > AI
Project: HI > AI went deep: seven distinguished artists created original patterns that explored topics like human individuality, technology-related stress, and the process of making.
Wolf-Gordon Design Studio (WGDS) extracted verbal prompts from the patterns that were input into AI imaging software. With the aim of creating outputs that were as close as possible to the originals, the results were remarkable. The outcome resulted in stunning interpretations that ranged from traditional to organic motifs.
WGDS’s work with Midjourney and DALL‑E highlighted the significance of language in Project: HI > AI.Chief Creative Officer, Marybeth Shaw, and Design Director, Michael Loughlin often had to modify artists’ prompts to achieve outputs that resembled the art. Alternatively, the AI was directed to produce a unique take on the original art.
Behind the Pattern
Pattern 2 | Jen Mussari
When considering pattern styles that might interest an AI to work with, Jen Mussari was drawn to the foundational shapes used in her calligraphy and sign painting. Pattern 2, is composed of typographic forms that are the building blocks used by trained human hands for centuries to make words for communicating.
Migration | Hilary Lorenz
Hilary Lorenz’s wallcovering pattern, Migration, consists of layers of hand-carved linoleum blocks of various moth species printed on paper. Her idea originated in her Moth Migration Project, a multi-sensory art installation featuring thousands of handprinted grey-scale paper moths. Lorenz conceived the Moth Migration Project to celebrate moths as pollinators and metaphors for exchanging ideas.
Famossa | Frank Tjepkema
The rich musical and visual world of Björk inspired Frank Tjepkema’s Famossa. Tjep used CAD software to generate a fantasy game of geometry that united computer algorithms with a classic floral pattern. Although generative algorithms and AI both rely on computers, Tjepkema suspected that Midjourney was based on language and wouldn’t have an edge when applying geometry in the design process.
Thunder & Lightning | Patt Pruit
Native American metalsmith Pat Pruitt’s pattern, Thunder & Lightning, is adapted from a lightning bolt design seen on his much-coveted steel wrist cuffs. In the Laguna Pueblo culture, thunder and lightning symbolize the coming of the rain (Shiwana) and its importance to desert agriculture.
Playful Toile | Ghislaine Viñas
With PROJECT: HI > AI, Ghislaine Viñas was looking to “take something ‘good’ and turn it on its head.” Playful Toile is a tableau of human-inflicted adversities existing in a developing or, controversially, collapsing world: privacy, technological advances and domestication. Viñas considers this design “a mash-up of misfortunes under the guise of a perfectly pleasing pattern, all penned by the very same human hand.”
Large Square | Christine Tarkowski
Christine Tarkowski created Large Square by folding watersoaked butcher into squares and drizzling molten glass onto the folded paper. The glass burned through several layers, revealing a pattern when extinguished and unfolded. While this theme could not be replicated precisely by the AI, it created a relatable image of folded paper on fire.
Furrows | Raylene Marasco
Furrows was inspired by the abstraction of the city's architecture caused by reflective light and shadows. Raylene Marasco used a vintage metal graining comb to drag pigment down dyed fabric and create irregular lines. Marasco found that the "uneven hand-dyed ground gave the pattern a glowing, iridescent quality." The art was scanned and manipulated to create a repeat and recolored to capture the reflections’ silvery quality.
