Dot patterns for every occasion

Have you noticed how the dot patterns, as well as animal prints, are in fashion again? Neither of them is a new innovation. Animal prints have been in and out of fashion since the early days of humankind, but did you know that dots used to be a symbol of plague before they were introduced to women’s fashion garments in the mid 1700th century? You can read more about the history of polka dots for example in Fashionologia Historiana -blog. Dots have inspired also artists like Yayoi Kusama and whole art directions as pointillism. So why wouldn’t it inspire our designers?

These days you can see polka dot prints in clothing, bed linen, disposables, cell phone covers – everywhere. They work in many styles in clothing as well as in interiors: from classic business style to gothic rock style, from funky restaurant lounge to baby cribs. As animal prints are trendy as well, the dots convert to cheetah or leopard dots – or in Finland to bobcat dots. This is what we found in our library.

A selection of dot patterns in Patternsfrom Agency’s pattern library

Tanja Kallio’s ‘Kuku’ is a playful abstract pattern where you can see the sky with the moon and birds or perhaps juniper berries in the middle of winter. It is a hand-painted pattern that is inspired by the abstract forms and colors of a cold bright winter afternoon. Still, you can find the classic polka dots spiced with some more pointy motifs.

Noora Hattunen’s ‘Gem’ pattern takes its inspiration from the contents of Noora’s jewelry box, but you can see the gems as dots in a fur if you look closely. ‘Gem’ is an easy pattern to combine, and it suits in many product groups from clothing to bedlinen.

Tanja Kallio’s other dot pattern is called ‘Roppo’. In Tanja’s family picking wild berries and mushrooms is an important tradition. “When retiring after a long day in the forest, you go to bed and close your eyes, the only thing you see is bushes full of perfect berries”, she says. This vision was Tanja’s inspiration for designing this free hand-drawn polka dot pattern.

In Anna Kuukka’s ‘Spottycoat’ pattern the surfaces in the garden are spotted with light, shadows, and animal footprints, all mixing together and creating a composition of their own. This design brings in that subtle depth and texture that creates a great contrast to both large-scale prints and solid colors.

Another polka dot – animal print comes from Tiina Taivainen and it is called ‘Bombom’. This pattern is an abstract pattern, but you can see many things in it. It may be the hundreds of sweet bomboms you have always dreamed of. It can also represent hundreds of bunny bobtails or just a fluffy polka dot pattern. ‘Bombom’ is designed for children’s interiors and clothing. The rasterized surfaces give the pattern liveliness and depth.

Last but not least is Ilana Vähätupa’s ‘Siimes’ pattern. It is showing the view from above the landscape. The shapes of trees and mountaintops draw paths between their shadows. It is one of the patterns Ilana has created by imagining the lives of mountain tigers as free sketching with torn paper as the sketching method.

Editor’s Picks are curated patterns designed by Finland-based textile and surface designers. The editor chooses a theme, makes a search in our digital pattern library, picks some of the best matches to the theme, and presents the patterns for you. These patterns are available for licensing in various product groups and markets. Get in touch for more information!