People
Below is an evolving visual list of practitioners I have encountered in my research over the past five weeks. While by no means exhaustive, I have attempted to curate a group of pattern makers across time, place, ethnicity and gender—working in fields as seemingly-disparate as architecture, economics, music and quantum physics.
Each has—in their own way—contributed to the incredible history, theory, practice and critique of ornament and pattern making.

Aaron Marcus
American, 1943–presentInterface Designer

Adolf Loos
Austrian-Czech, 1870–1933
Architect, Theorist
Architect, Theorist

Agnes Martin
Canadian-American, 1912–2004Artist

Allan McCollum
American, 1944–presentArtist

Albrecht Dürer
German, 1471–1528
Artist
Artist

Alexander Girard
American, 1907–1993Architect, Textile Designer

Alphonse Mucha
Czech, 1860–1939Painter, Illustrator

Alice Turner
Australian, 1985–present
Artist
Artist

Alvin Lustig
American, 1915–1955
Graphic Designer
Graphic Designer

Angelo Testa
American, 1921–1984Textile Designer

Anni Albers
German-American, 1899–1994
Textile Designer, Printmaker

Anna Maria Garthwaite
English, 1688–1763Textile Designer

August Ferdinand Möbius
German, 1790–1868Mathematician

Archimedes
Greek, 287–212 BCMathematician

Augustus Pugin
English, 1812–1852Architect

Benoit Mandelbrot
Polish-French-American, 1924–2010Mathematician

Barbara Brown
English, 1932–presentTextile Designer

Birgit Antoni
German, 1956–Painter

Branko Grünbaum
Yugoslav-Jewish, 1929–2018Mathematician

Blinky Palermo
German, 1943–1977
Painter
Painter

Bridget Riley
English, 1931–Artist

Buckminster Fuller
American, 1895–1983Architect

Bruno Munari
Italian, 1907–1998
Artist, Designer
Artist, Designer

Carl Lostritto
American, 1983–Architect, Computational Designer

Casey Reas
American, 1972–Artist

Carsten Nicolai
German, 1965–
Artist, Musician
Artist, Musician

Dan Funderburgh
American, 1978–Designer

Charlotte Perkins Gilman
American, 1860–1935Novelist

Dan Shechtman
Israeli-American, 1941–Nobel Prize-winning Chemist

Daniel Buren
French, 1938–Artist

Desmond Paul Henry
English, 1921–2004Machine Artist

Eadweard Muybridge
English, 1830–1904Photographer

Edward Norton Lorenz
American, 1917–2008Mathematician

Erwin Hauer
American-Austrian, 1926–2017Sculptor

Ethel Stein
American, 1917–2008
Textile Artist
Textile Artist

Ettore Sottsass
Italian, 1917–2007Architect, Designer

Fanette Mellier
French, 1977–Graphic Designer

Evgraf Fedorov
Russian, 1853–1919Mathematician, Crystallographer

Florence Broadhurst
Australian, 1899–1977Textiles Designer
Franco Grignani
Italian, 1908–1999Architect, Graphic Designer
Frank Lloyd Wright
American, 1867–1959Architect

Frei Otto
German, 1925–2015Architect, Structural Engineer
George Cacioppo
American, 1927–1984Composer

Gio Ponti
Italian, 1891–1979Architect, Designer
Hector Guimard
French, 1867–1942Architect

Hans Vredeman de Vries
Dutch, 1527–1607Architect

Hella Jongerius
Dutch, 1963–Industrial Designer
Iris Van Herpen
Dutch, 1984–Fashion Designer
James Nolan Gandy
American, 1979–Mechanical Draftsman
Johann Sebastian Bach
German, 1685–1750Composer, Musician

Johannes Kepler
German, 1571–1630
Astronomer, Mathematician
Astronomer, Mathematician
Jürg Lehni
Swiss, 1978–Designer

Karel Martens
Dutch, 1939–Graphic Designer
Karl Nawrot
French, 1979–Graphic Designer
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Lev Manovich
Russian, 1960–Computer Scientist, Theorist

Lebbeus Woods
American, 1940–2012Architect, Theorist

Lilian Schwartz
American, 1927–Artist, Computer Graphics Pioneer
And many, many more to come!
Louis Sullivan |
Lucienne Day |
Maija Isola |
Marcel Wanders |
Margarete Riessen |
Marthe Armitage |
Matteo Thun |
Max Brückner |
MC Escher |
Michael Lin |
Nathalie du Pasquier |
Norman Carberg |
Owen Jones |
Paul Rand |
Persin Broersen & Margit Lukacs |
Peter Kubelka |
Peter Roehr |
Philip Glass |
Pier Luigi Nervi |
Ray Kaiser Eames |
Richard Kostelanetz |
Richard Landis |
Robert Smithson |
Roger Penrose |
Rosemary Newson |
Saarinen |
Seiko Miyami |
Sheila Hicks |
Sol Lewitt |
Sophus Lie |
Tai Tsuge |
Tauba Auerbach |
Tony Conrad |
Tord Boontje |
Victor Vasarely |
Walter Russel |
William Justema |
William Justema |
William Morris |
Yayoi Kusama |
Zach Lieberman |