Please upgrade your browser

For the best experience, you should upgrade your browser. Visit our accessibility page to view a list of supported browsers along with links to download the latest version.

Show RCA 2019

Johanna Pinto

Show RCA work

Major project:

The project draws inspiration from how patterns are generated in a systematic way in nature. Inspired by the Fibonacci series, Johanna chose to work on seashells. 

She looked at the pigmentation patterns that do not generate at random, but evolve in time in a systematic way. She collected seashells from her travels to Japan and Scotland, and built the collection from them. 

The patterns are simulated on a computer and later worked with to create weave structures and print repeats. There is a combination of digital and hand processes to create the materials, which are designed for the body. The work is created in binary and colours taken from shells.

Info

  • Johanna is interested in the craft and digital sphere of textile making. She draws her inspiration from natural pattern generation, which is slowly evolving in our surrounding environment. As a print designer, pattern plays a key role in her work. She is sensitive to how these materials translate onto the body in terms of scale. She works with small engineered weaves to large body-scale patterns. 

    Johanna is interested in the mathematical way in which nature creates a pattern, and how digital design also operates in a systematic manner. This starts as a basis for her design process, which she then explores through material processes. Her aim is to create digital textiles that have traces of handwork in them, and have an organic feel and quality in the pieces. Her material selection largely involves natural materials, particularly silk, which is influenced by the place she grew up in, Bangalore, India. 

    She invites people to come close and study the minute weave structures, and appreciate the large scale of the pattern from a distance. 

  • Previous degrees

  • Bachelor of Design, National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, India, 2011
  • Experiences

  • Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, Mumbai, India, 2012
  • Funding

  • RCA Fund International Scholarship
Royal College of Art