Produced for the first time in around the 7th century, Islamic design has proven to be enormously influential on various arts and a wide variety of media all over the world. You can see it on ceramics, tiles, glass and many more. One thing for sure, Islamic design is absolutely stunning. What are the characteristics of Islamic design?
Vegetal Patterns
Vegetal patterns are the curving vines, which sometimes include leaves or flowers. If you have no idea about what vegetal patterns are, you may have heard about arabesques, which is how sometimes people call vegetal patterns. Vegetal patterns originated in the Eastern Mediterranean. The idea behind the arabesque pattern is the Garden of Paradise. What is so interesting about vegetal patterns is that they appear to have no limit in their decorative forms.
Calligraphy
It is not only in Arabic that we can see calligraphy, but also in Chinese, Japanese and other languages that do not use roman alphabet. The use of calligraphy in art, however, is more prevalent in Islamic arts. We can see calligraphy being used not only as text but also to decorate wood, architecture, glass, metal, ceramics, etc. Of all elements of Islamic arts, calligraphy is regarded as the most noble one. Though not everyone can read what is written, everyone knows that calligraphy expresses meaning and beauty.
Geometric Patterns
Another feature of Islamic design is the geometric patterns. If we look at the Islamic geometric patterns and compare them with other geometric patterns out there, we will likely think that they are more or less the same. What we think, however, is not true. Some mathematicians believe that Islamic geometric patterns are the most complex patterns ever created.
Strong Colours
Islamic designs mostly use strong colours such as blue, green, turquoise and red. The colours are frequently used or combined together that whenever people see them, they directly associate the colours with Islam.
After reading all the characteristics of Islamic design above, what can be concluded? We think that Islamic design is quite complex and abstract. Despite the complexity and abstractness, we find that Islamic design is truly remarkable and inspiring. It surely is one of our favourite designs from around the world.
