In his 1920 essay, ‘The Pleasure Principle’, Freud described how young children often gain pleasure from repetition. Unlike adults, who quickly tire of old jokes, kids often beseech their parents, or indeed favourite aunt or uncle, to repeat a silly gesture or impression with the words ‘Again! Again!’, the rising level of giddy amusement seemingly knowing no end.
When we think of pattern, what we are imagining is a graphic motif or scheme that repeats. If it didn’t, it would simply be a singular image. Yet, while there’s enjoyment to be had from beholding, from experiencing a pattern – in its predictability, maybe – there’s also a level of safety that might be said to tip over, ever so slightly, into the realm of (dare I say it) the boring.
It comes, perhaps, as little surprise that Italian ceramic-tile specialist 
