Kaleidoscopic/Mandala Theme

My inspiration stemmed from a kaleidoscopic/mandala theme, be it being some of my favorite patterns and designs which allow me to daze and dream in my imagination. The art in kaleidoscopic/mandala art I first thought of was from when I worked at Desigual, an international based clothing store which represents clothing of romantic, adventurous, and casual aesthetics. I also gained interest from my study abroad program and experience in Italy. I love exploring new worlds, and kaleidoscopes give me a world my imagination already produces.

I was also graced by a great dear queen of mine who featured me in her book "Elements of Agapao" as being a kaleidoscope. As much as I love them, I appreciate being a muse for someone else to write about, and it dawned on me to create a series based off my own personal inspiration along with hers.

I’m taking some architectural inspiration from this, and making the highlight design stem from mind-blowing art. Some of these photos were taken abroad, some from a museum, some from findings of my own, and others from the brand I occupied myself at; Desigual which means ‘not the same’.

Kaleidoscopes originated from a Scottish scientist by the name of Sir David Brewster in 1816, who studied the physical sciences of polarization optics and light. Brewster named his invention after the Greek words 'kalos' or beautiful, eidos or form, and scopos or watcher.Kaleidoscope means beautiful form watcher. He made the original kaleidoscope with a tube containing loose pieces of colored glass, pretty objects, and reflected them in angles.

I found fascination in the special designs in Indian and Spanish made mandalas.The mandala for Indians in the language of Sanksrit is translated to circle, but represents the meaning of wholeness, and can be seen as a model of organization.

I will be constructing abstract type brooches following a family of three. They will all be different but similar in a story of growth and several faces of colored objects, a lot of eye catching movement, and surprises of designs like how you find in kaleidoscopes. I am playing with patinas and un-organized structures and generating a free design aesthetic for this project.