Where Surface Meets Depth: Virtuality in Textile and Material Design

The 'swatch' or sample format has been a common starting point throughout historical and contemporary practice in textile and material design. There are some basic conventions in the disciplinary tenet of textiles for the design of swatches and samples, which persist in design education and the commercial industry: trim it so there aren't any borders; make your design appear to go off the edge. It mustn't ever look like a picture, but it should usually be rectangular whatever size you choose. Make it look like it goes on and on and that you can buy as much of it as you want; mount it on card with a large border but only stick it down along one narrow edge so that it can move and be handled; it may already include a repeating pattern through its construction but, if not, at least give an indication that the design repeats. They will put it in repeat; it doesn't always matter if you can't wash it. It's about the idea. It'll be used as inspiration. ...