The Archive: Print and Process

I have always loved pattern-books. I am cognisant and appreciative of the work that goes into archiving, categorisation, and research. In particular, I love the V&A Sourcebook of Pattern & Ornament (Thames & Hudson, 2021). The book is a gem of richly illustrated and thematically organised examples of global, historic, and contemporary surface pattern and ornamentation. I have learned so much about visual and material culture from its pages.

The V&A Sourcebook of Pattern & Ornament, page 115

An entire section dedicated to pomegranates? Yes please. The V&A pattern-book is of course a classic, a must-have, and an incredibly detailed compilation across geographies and temporalities. Pattern-books exist on different scales as well. I recently skimmed the Liberty Pattern Book (Liberty. Design. Pattern. Colour, also published by Thames&Hudson) and William Morris: Pattern and Design, another beautifully compiled collection of prints across mediums. The Spode Museum Pattern Books are also a wonderful archive of water-colours, documenting the evolution of changing design styles over two centuries. In the South-Asian context, I love the publications that the Calico Museum in Ahmedabad puts out. For my interest in textiles of Kashmir, they have a book titled: Embroidered and Stitched Textile Fragments from Kashmir. Which is a treasure-trove of information. And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my introduction to the genre of pattern-books, Henry Wilson has documented Indian patterns thoughtfully and rigorously. In particular, I would recommend Floral Patterns of India to anyone interested in South Asian aesthetics.

I have been inspired by these prints and compilations, and this journal-entry introduces what I think of as a series of notes from the studio, a pattern book to document the inspirations and patterns that emerge from Sonya Sapru Designs. I picture this as an evolving, working archive that I will continue to build over time. Historically, pattern books and textile-swatch collections were handled, annotated, and returned to; they functioned as working tools as much as archives. I approach this journal in a similar way: as something to build, revisit, and use. In assembling these posts, I move between roles, designer and curator, bringing earlier prints back into view and placing them alongside one another. Designs that once existed as finished lengths of fabric are handled again, broken open, and reconsidered so that relationships in line, rhythm, and repeat begin to surface.

I am interested in retaining the tactile quality of the process: the building of a repeat, the adjustment of spacing, the density of a surface, the way a pattern settles into cloth. Even within a digital workflow, these decisions remain material in intent. The journal is both record and working surface, a place where prints are collected, re-read and reshaped over time. Through this, each design sits within a longer continuum of making. References are returned to, tested again, and gradually transformed. The pattern book is not fixed, but something that continues to unfold—carried forward into future designs.

Women in Print, 150 Years of Liberty at the William Morris Gallery in London. Image left: 30 December, 2025, credits: Author. Image right: William Morris Gallery.