Broadbent, S., Davidson, P., 2022.

Global Patterns

Global Patterns highlights the interpretation of cultural heritage through the visual expression of fabric and pattern - drawing upon the five Continents and presented within the public realm, situated as part of the regeneration landscape outside of Rochdale townhall.

As textiles woven in Rochdale once went out across the world, today textiles from across the world are now represented through the diverse community within Rochdale.

Global Patterns takes the form of five ceramic benches resembling bolts of fabric. Each circular bench is made up of nine individual seats, all bearing textile patterns from a particular continent. In total, there are 45 individual patterns reinterpreted and highlighted as a graphic image. We have rendered these as arrangements of lines and dots pressed into wet clay. When the clay is fired, titanium glaze collects in the recesses and the patterns become two-tone, iridescent faience. This unique method of capturing detailed pattern within the clay before it is fired has also contributed to a new making and production methodology.

Our hope was to build up a mosaic of patterns which highlights each diverse pattern, while representing a harmonious collection - recognisable as the cultural mosaic of a continent. It forms part of the storytelling and placemaking of Rochdale.