A Year in Pattern invites you to slow down and appreciate the subtle nuances found in nature’s smallest details. Surface pattern designer Mimi Hammill draws on the poetic observations of the ancient Japanese micro‑seasons calendar, translating them into 72 fresh, colourful, and lyrically crafted design briefs.
The project began in 2020, after Mimi completed a short course on the history, design and development of the kimono at London College of Fashion. Inspired by this study, she spent the intervening years working on a self-directed pattern design project: to illustrate the 72 historic Japanese microseasons. Each microseason’s climate-based title was paired with a seasonal colour palette from a 1930’s collection by theatre designer Sanzo Wada, forming the visual foundation of the project. It would take more than two years to complete the pattern design phase of the project.
Her goal has always been to bring the patterns full circle, liberating them from their computer files and engaging with them as textiles on the sewing table: employing her celebration of the microseasons to craft an analogue, handmade representation of the year in pattern. The exhibition presents this transformation: variations of handmade hanten, traditional Japanese workwear jackets, created using designer deadstock fabrics and her year of patterns printed onto recycled cotton.
Mimi Hammill is an Aberdeen-based Scottish surface pattern designer with a background in medicine and health publishing. Mimi’s signature pattern design style is unapologetically digital, characterised by sharp lines, simplified shapes, and solid blocks of vibrant colour. There’s a direct thread linking her aesthetic to that of the medical illustrators she worked alongside in the early ‘00s. Inspired by those illustrators, Mimi went on to study the design software required, and after years of exploration found her niche in surface pattern design. Since then, she has been developing her design skills and small business. Her first garment; a yukata which is an unlined cotton kimono sewn during lockdown, is currently on display in Aberdeen Art Gallery.
Mimi Hammill’s work can be found in FOLD, our contemporary craft & design store. Learn more about her practice via www.mimihammill.com and on Instagram @mimi_hammill
🕔 Open Thursday-Saturday 12-4pm and during events in @thebarnarts Box office cabinets
📅 8 May – 28 August 2026
