Surface Pattern Design
Along with brand identities for businesses, we work as a surface designers. Surface design is the creation of artwork that will be applied to products or environments. This artwork might be a repeating pattern or a stand-alone illustration. And it could be applied to:
Clothing, Giftwrapping, Handbags, Wallpaper, Fabric, Stationery etc.
Seamless repeat patterns are a subset of surface design especially handy for wall coverings, giftwrap, and fabric. Most of our designs are repeating patterns.
Some companies employ in-house designers. Other companies purchase patterns from third parties like us. An independent surface designer typically licenses their artwork to a company for either a flat fee or royalties. For example, a fabric manufacturer might partner with a surface designer to create a collection of prints. The fabric company then pays a royalty per yard of fabric sold that features the artist’s pattern.
Get in contact with us if you want to collaborate with some of our unique, one of a kind, surface pattern designs.
Licensing for a flat fee or royalties: how to purchase surface patterns
For clients interested in using surface patterns on products, a licensing agreement is what grants you permission to use a designer’s artwork. (By default, the copyright for artwork belongs to its creator unless they’ve signed it over to you.)
If you’re a wholesaler or manufacturer who regularly works with designers, you likely have a standard contract to use as a starting point. If you’re new to art licensing, here’s a quick overview.
There are three typical payment arrangements for surface pattern design work:
A one-time, flat fee—no matter how many products bearing the design are sold, the purchase price is set
Royalties—a percentage of your sales
An advance against royalties—an amount paid up front that’s smaller than a flat fee would be, with additional royalty payments kicking in after that amount is reached
Who buys surface patterns?
Beautiful surface pattern designs can make fashion, home furnishings, cookware, paper products, and environments even more appealing to customers.
Maybe you’re opening a boutique hotel, bed & breakfast, salon, restaurant, or retail store, and you need a custom print for furniture, curtains, or bedding in your space.
Maybe you’re an interior designer working on a residential or commercial project that requires custom wallpaper.
Or maybe you’re a print buyer or creative director on the hunt for fresh patterns to license for use on fabrics, apparel, accessories, stationery, kitchen products, or home goods.
Custom surface pattern development
If one of our existing patterns isn’t just right, we can create a custom print or collection for you. How it works: You describe your needs and provide a couple inspiration images. If it’s our my style, we’ll make a set of pattern options. Typically we mock them up on your product so we can see what they’d look like in reality. You pick your favorite(s). We’ll make a few refinements if needed. Depending on the licensing and pricing model we’ve agreed to, payment will either be a flat fee, royalty model, or advance against future royalties.
The perfect pattern can make your product or environment shine.
