Frontgate
Product Design Spring 2023
Products
I worked as a concept, graphic, and surface artist for Frontgate, a Cincinnati based furniture company, during my 2021 fall co-op term. In this role, I generated original surface and concept artwork that would be printed on textiles and home goods, such as doormats, upholstery, rugs, pillows, and dinnerware.
Through collaboration with different artists and departments, I designed four doormats and one textile pattern which have been released as a part of Frontgate’s Spring 2023 collection.
Citrus Grove Doormat
Crestwood Doormat
Estate Half-Round Doormat
Butterfly Garden Doormat
Mendoza Tile Pattern
Crestwood
Inspired by antique scroll book covers, this indoor and outdoor doormat is hand-tufted from weather-resistant fibers.
Process
With the indigo and greys of Frontgate’s ’23 palette in mind, I began to ideate inspired by proprietary antique artwork. My goal was to simplify the design by focusing on design elements in each draft, continuing to iterate on the most successful concepts. I then created a final digital version of each size to be sent to the vendors to handcraft the final product.
Citrus Grove
Hand-printed on natural coir, I created the Citrus Grove doormat to compliment an existing indoor floormat.
Process
Based on the proprietary citrus artwork used in other designs, I created digital ideations, focusing on variety in scale and composition. The final design shows detail and gives motion, weight, and depth to the composition, alluding to a larger tree and space below it.
Estate Half-Round
I was tasked with reimagining Frontgate’s successful Estate doormat into a half-round as part of their Spring ’23 collection.
Process
When designing this doormat, I had two goals: capture the likeness of the Estate doormat, and include a crest for the monogram. This challenged me to incorporare the design elements of the original doormat with the special constraints of the half-round size. I hand-sketched solutions, rethinking the relationship between the border and the crest; I ultimately kept the original monogram crest, and partly broke up the border to give the monogram more space while containing the internal lattice pattern.
I created three digital versions: the primary monogramed version, and two additional versions without a monogram.
Butterfly Garden
The Butterfly Garden doormat was created to capture the energy and life of spring in a bright and dynamic way.
Process
Going for the idea of a wildflower field, I used proprietary floral patterns to compose different designs. I then added in the butterflies to add motion and life to the doormat. After creating the fundamental composition, my design was handed to an illustrator to fully render the finished artwork.
Mendoza Tile Pattern
The Mendoza Tile textile pattern was inspired by the intersecting circles of painted bath tiles. Originally designed to be used on an outdoor rug, this pattern was versatile and popular enough that it has since been applied to several additional products such as pillows, towels, and flowerpots.
Process
Taking inspiration from water ripples and raindrops, I sketched to create a geometric tessellation that felt fluid while still alluding to the confines of the square. This solution centered around using gestalt principles to create a tile that, when together, formed full interlocking circles.
