When I asked graphic designer and pattern maker Tim Colmant where his inspiration came from, he replied “The Memphis movement, past, present and future.” And so it is. Flat colours in brights and pastels, meandering lines, dots and chunky shapes cover his surfaces – a whimsical hybrid of tiger tails, worms, eyes and fold-out books, floating on backgrounds of rivers, sky and stars. And sometimes taken one step further with pleasure-inducing animated gifs.
tim colmant
The Memphis Group was an Italian collective in the 1980s, best know for their rebellious approach to furniture design and the decorative arts. Led by respected architect Ettore Sottsass, their work was deliberately kitsch, often using stripped-down historical forms, reinventing them in gaudy colours and new materials such as plexiglass, neon lights and glitter finishes, and Nathalie du Pasquier was responsible for many of the patterns decorating surfaces; a mix of jagged geometrics, leopardskin and tortoiseshell.
tim colmant
Tim is a long-time lover of pattern, but only started experimenting with it himself recently. Based in Gent, Belgium, he has always worked as a graphic designer and only started in illustration and pattern design about a year and a half ago after he discovered du Pasquier’s work. “Now I really enjoy doing pattern, it’s a blend of abstraction, chaos, composition and repetition.”
tim colmant
tim colmant
Pattern and drawing have been a thing for him ever since he was small. “I know that I was drawing a lot like most of the children from my generation, and my mother still has some of them (Big Ups Mum!). I also made and decorated a totem when I was a little child in school.”
Now, armed with nothing fancier than a computer, a digital tablet and a mug of tea Tim has managed to get his work out in to world and has an impressive list of clients, including Bloomberg and Wrap Magazine. He feels very lucky to be doing something he loves as work. “Every time I receive mail of people telling me they like my work, my work makes them happy or people want to work with me I’m happy.”
tim colmant
tim colmant
His best piece of advice “I know it will sounds really cheesy but HAVE FUN & WORK HARD. And never forget about that, if you have fun, people will see this, feel it.”
You can find more of Tim’s work on his tumblr and his Facebook page.
tim’s totem