Sgraffito is a scratched pottery decoration, first used in China, which spread across Europe via Persia. The vessel is immersed in slip, and then the decoration is scratched on the surface to reveal the darker body below. It was often used with maiolica from Italy.
Additional Reading
Hatch, M. (2015). New Ceramic Surface Design: Learn to inlay, stamp, stencil, draw, and paint on Clay. Quarry Books.
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Gestalt – design from chaos to order – Encyclopedia of Design
As a visual designer, I am fascinated how people process visual perceptual information. The design process is about bringing order and form to our visual world. Gestalt Psychologists in the 1930’s suggested some basic perceptual rules that the brain automatically and unconsciously follows as it organises sensory information into meaningful wholes.
Linoleum created as an inexpensive floor covering – Encyclopedia of Design
Frederick Walton invented linoleum in Britain in 1860. Walton coated flax cloth with a combination of gum, cork dust, resin and linseed oil in search of a cheap floor covering. An amalgamation of the Latin Linum (‘flax’) and oleum (‘oil’) formed the word linoleum.