Or, the funny little patterns that emerge in old Indian blankets if you stare at them long enough. A colourful cornucopia of squares, crosses, zig-zags, and triangles in bold graduated colourways that make these so graphically appealing, and sometimes mesmeric.
Virtually a Ralph trademark for years, others are now latching on to their beauty, and they still provide inspiration for many designers, even Dr Martens have recently collaborated with Pendleton Woolen Mills.
In the right interior setting they seem to evoke a nostalgia for a bygone era of pioneers, settlers, traders and tribes, a Romanticism of the American Old West, of bedroll campfires, cosy log cabins, even the decor of the Overlook Hotel.*
* The Overlook Hotel was the eponymous setting for Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film ‘The Shining’.
Words Simon/photos Nic Shonfeld