The idea of originality (and copying) is a really gray area of the maker world. As a designer, it has been an interesting area to navigate and I wanted to share some of my thoughts and experiences on the topic with you. But first, let’s set a couple of ground rules:
- Do the right thing.
- Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Those are my guiding principles as a maker and designer. No matter what the situation is, they help guide me and I hope will help guide us through the rest of this topic! Now, there’s one thing I would like to put out there: copying is not cool. And you know what’s even worse? Copying and calling it your own… so just don’t.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the main point of this post: Is your pattern design idea really original? If your pattern idea was genuinely made from the heart with no outside influence of other patterns, and you put in the work to create it – it’s original. An original pattern takes an organic idea, the skills to execute it, and hours and hours of trial and error (unless you’re lucky and get it on the first try).
I like to think of patterns a little bit like Christmas music… let me explain. You know the song Jingle Bells? Let’s say we have two artists that release the song on a Christmas album – we’ll call them Mariah Carey and Josh Groban. These artists have completely different styles, voices, and fans. Neither of them invented the song Jingle Bells, but they can both make the song their own! And at the end of the day, Mariah’s fans will LOVE her version and Josh’s fans will LOVE his version – it doesn’t really matter that they both sang the same song.
Patterns are really similar when you think about it! Cardigans were invented in 1868 (seriously, I just Googled it). Here we are 150 years later and there are a million cardigan styles out there. There are an infinite number of possibilities for cardigan designs and as makers, we have access to a TON of different stitches, yarns, and construction techniques. Regardless of how many cardigan patterns are out there, your idea could be one of a kind. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many patterns are out there are because your audience will love yours.
So what stops makers from releasing their designs? FEAR. Fear is just a four letter word, but as makers we often hold ourselves back because of the fear of looking like a copycat or just generally worrying about what others think. That’s all nonsense. You are doing a disservice to yourself if you let fear hold you back. Now, I’m not saying that everyone should go out and be a designer just for the sake of it. It can be difficult, grueling, and downright frustrating to design a pattern… but if it makes you happy, you owe it to yourself to do it! And you know what else? Your audience deserves to see your designs come to life because I bet they will love them. So if you take one thing away here, please do not let fear stop you.
Fear is just a four letter word.
At the end of the day, YOU get to choose whether or not your idea is original because you’re the only one who knows where it came from. Do the right thing. Treat others how you want to be treated. And don’t let fear stop you from pursuing something that will make you happy.