Pattern, Product Range and Photoshoot, 2013–2015
Kath Kidston on Acid
This work was created for Christmas at the Mill in 2013. I set out to develop a complete range of products from a single repeating pattern, testing how one design could hold together across very different formats, from wallpaper and clocks to fabric and a band photoshoot.
The Pattern
The pattern was built from geometric floral forms, drawing on the visual language of mass-market British homeware while deliberately pushing it into more exaggerated, graphic and disorienting territory through scale, repetition and colour.
The title carried a personal reference alongside the visual one. My mum regularly bought gifts from Cath Kidston, and the collection reworked that domestic nostalgia through a more experimental lens, testing how far one repeating design could be pushed while still reading as a coherent system.
The Range
The same pattern was translated into a full product range rather than adapted separately for each item: a laser-cut star clock, sets of round coasters and jigsaw puzzles packaged in illustrated boxes. Each object carried the design at a different scale, printed rather than redrawn to fit.
The Little Dragon Photoshoot
As part of the exhibition, the pattern was also used as a backdrop in a photoshoot with the band Little Dragon, extending the work beyond objects and into image-making. The finished photograph was framed and hung on the pattern wallpaper itself, letting the design operate as product, surface and image at the same time.
Christmas at the Mill
The full range was shown together at Christmas at the Mill, with the pattern wrapped across the booth walls, a white tree hung with pattern-cut ornaments, and framed pieces of the design set alongside boxed products.
Beyond the Mill
The pattern was also printed onto fabric and followed the work out beyond the exhibition itself, turning up on the street printed across a wall that a bike happened to be leaning against, an ordinary object put back into an ordinary setting.
Commission a Similar Project
If you are planning a product range, exhibition or piece of surface design that needs to hold together as one system rather than a set of one-off items, get in touch.
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Questions
What was Kath Kidston on Acid?
A single repeating pattern developed into a full product range, made for Christmas at the Mill in 2013 to test how one design could operate consistently across wallpaper, objects, fabric and image-making.
Where does the title come from?
It references the visual language of mass-market British homeware associated with Cath Kidston, pushed into a more exaggerated and graphic register. It is also a personal reference, as Mark’s mum regularly bought gifts from Cath Kidston.
What products were part of the range?
A laser-cut star clock, round coasters, jigsaw puzzles, wallpaper and printed fabric, all carrying the same pattern.
What was the photoshoot with Little Dragon?
The pattern was used as a backdrop for a photoshoot with the band, with the finished photograph later framed and hung on the pattern wallpaper as part of the exhibition.
Where was the work shown?
At Christmas at the Mill in December 2013.
Can a similar pattern system be commissioned?
Get in touch to discuss a product range, exhibition or surface design project.
From the Journal
One Pattern, Every Format
Dated entries following Kath Kidston on Acid, from the Christmas products to the clothes and the wallpaper left to rot.
Selected Work