We pay our respects to where the patterns come from.
Our brand rests on borrowed beauty. These are the rules we hold ourselves to - published so you can hold us to them too.
i.Dual naming
Every pattern carries its original name first - boteh (بته), not just "paisley". Every pigment too: madder is رناس before it is anything else.
ii.A citation chain on every page
Source culture, the specific artifact and museum number, the artist who redrew it, and the advisor who reviewed it. Printed in the book, shown in the app, listed on this page.
iii.Advisors and music, credited and paid
Each cultural domain has a paid advisor with relevant background. Each page's music is chosen to resonate with the culture the pattern comes from - a Persian pattern carries Persian music, licensed and credited.
iv.Red lines
We do not use living sacred symbols, motifs from contested or looted artifacts, or ceremonial designs of closed cultures. "In a museum" does not mean "open for use". Our advisors keep this list.
v.A royalty to the source
1% of revenue goes to cultural heritage preservation, published annually. Not charity - a royalty, paid to where the patterns come from. The first annual accounting will be published on this page at the close of our first fiscal year, with the receiving institutions named.
vi.Four kinds of stories, one standard of honesty
| Civilizations | Heritage patterns - the full charter above applies. |
| Knowledge | Nature and science - cited to the plate and the paper (e.g., Haeckel, 1904), reviewed by subject experts. |
| Artists | Original commissions - the artist is named, interviewed, and paid royalties. |
| Ideas | Studio originals - developed with studio tools, finished by hand, and signed by a human curator who answers for them. We never imply a cultural origin these patterns do not have. |
vii.How Studio originals are made
Some patterns in the Ideas line are developed with studio tools, including software that assists composition, then finished by hand and checked against the same print-quality standards as every heritage page. Each one is signed by the curator who answers for it. Volumes are kept at least 70% Civilizations, Knowledge and Artists; our flagship volumes carry no Studio pages at all. We will never present a Studio pattern as having a cultural origin it does not have.