Barking up the right tree

Whether it’s skinning up a website or designing a background for some new food packaging, creating patterns can be important part of all aspects of design.

Everyone that has suffered from designer’s block at some point knows the importance of looking at the world around you for visual inspiration, whether it’s in a beautiful natural form or artwork from an engaging book.

An example of both landed on our desks here at Design Week this week in the form of nature photography book Bark by Cédric Pollet. Far from just brown, rough casings, Pollet captures the bark from vast range of vibrant trees, ranging in colour from alien-like silver to deep ruby and featuring a variety of textures, including bumpy, woolly, cracked, smooth and hairy.

Ten years ago, Pollet gave up on his job in science to photograph trees full-time. The unorthodox move seems to have paid off as last year he was awarded French art prize Redouté Prix Artistique and now makes his living from reports, exhibitions and educational workshops.

For tree buffs, each photograph is also accompanied by information about the tree’s origins and uses and a picture of it in its natural environment. As well as being an artwork in itself, each photograph would be a great starting point for anyone wanting inspiration from nature’s colours, patterns and textures.

Bark: An Intimate Look at the Wolrd’s Trees by Cédric Pollet will be available from Frances Lincoln Publishers from 5 August, priced at £30.