Inspiration

On a trip to Fes, Morocco (July 2018) I was inspired by the souk market (see image references here) and all of the beautiful objects for sale. One of the objects that really triggered my intrest, were magnets with a cover print of an islamic geometric artwork (see image reference here). 

I bought a few of these magnets (see image below) and I started getting inspired by them ever since. I wanted to recreate this magical effect of geometrical patterns but with a more modern twist. I wanted the practical/esthetic value of the geometric art to be more important than the traditional/mathematical aspect of this ancient artform.

Concept

After a long period of multiple brainstorming sessions I was finally able to give a title to the concept that I was trying to create, which is "mosaic duplication". Since the idea of 'retelling' is essential in islamic history I decided to inspire my concept on the idea of 'reusing'. This means that I would study the characteristics (shape, color scheme, ...) of an islamic geometric artwork and then 'reuse' it in a different way by adapting elements and changing the color scheme which I would then keep duplicating as if I was creating a new mosaic pattern structure.

For the first experiment of this concept I used one of my absolute favorite examples of islamic architecture, the Nasir-Al-Molk mosque in Shiraz, Iran (see image references here). I studied the available pictures until I found a shape that intrigued me (in the slideshow below I marked it with a white square). Then I zoomed in on this shape and studied its characteristics before I started the process of "mosaic duplication".

After finishing the new image I was very happy with the result, so I continued to look for other inspirational artworks that I could use as a basis for this process until I had a selection of varying patterns that I could use to create functional artworks (prints & products).