The Value of Reworking, Not Just Creating, in Pattern Design

In creative the creative world, it feels there is an unspoken emphasis on constant creation.  New ideas, new work, new output.  Fuelled by endless new, vibrant and engaging creative content on social media it is so easy to feel that artists are creating new collections on a weekly basis and everyone has piles of new material to hand.  

It quickly creates a pressure to create more “new” work and fosters an inner sense of failing to be as productive, as innovative as “commercially viable” as everyone else in the space.

In the last few weeks I’m realising that the most meaningful progress in my pattern design practice hasn’t come from creating more, but from the time I’ve spent reworking what already exists. Returning to unfinished ideas, revisiting old sketches, and allowing work the space to evolve has become the most valuable part of my process.