It Repeats And Repeats And Repeats

Mercedes Armstrong loves the rhythm of pattern—and her designs are never boring.

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Mercedes Armstrong had a past life, it was either in the Art Nouveau 1910s or the rainbow pop 1960s; she sees the same flowy, imaginative forms in both. “It’s fantasy, a little bit,” she explains, “not so serious.” Her studio’s dotted with marbled paper, floral typography, soft watercolor studies of dragonfruit, a fabric print of happy watercolor-clear lemons, a Greetabl box done in her Lash print, black, peach, and royal blue on white. Her favorite colors are now salmon and vermilion, richer and subtler than the Midcentury rainbow. But her sense of play is even stronger.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?

I’ll search keywords online, look at Anthropologie’s beauty product packaging, page through books of old textile designs. [She flips through one to show me a toile of feathers.] Sometimes, I’ll think, “Man, how did they ever do that back then? Entirely by hand?”