The recent resurgence in popularity of monogramming one's worldly goods confounds me. I guess it's just my personality, but I've never felt the need to have my name or initials displayed on my stuff. I know what's mine, and don't need my name on it to remind me. I suppose monogramming could be viewed as a theft deterrent. (Or invitation. Someone named Ashley may be tempted by another Ashley's personalized purse or phone case.) But I digress.
With my love of color and patterns, a more subtle and personal way of flying my identity flag is with tartan. Being born a Wallace, an inherently Scottish surname, makes that easy. And yet, the Wallace tartan is not the pattern I turn to when I'm shopping - unless it's for Scotch tape, which features both the standard sett and hunting tartan in the Wallace pattern.
Having done research on William Wallace during the writing of a historical novel set in 13th century Scotland, I know that his family came from Renfrewshire in the Paisley district of Scotland. I love the colors in the Paisley district tartan - the subtle blending of blue and green, the grounding black and white, the bright highlights of red and yellow. And so, as I nestle in a chair watching a movie or documentary, I'm cuddling beneath my Paisley District tartan fleece blanket. And when I take a trip, my laptop is protected by a Paisley District tartan neoprene case, which is tucked into a Paisley district messenger bag. Others may look at it and simply see a pleasing plaid pattern, but to me, it's a family flag that I'm flying.
Similar to the Paisley tartan in colors, is the official California state tartan. I grew up a Navy brat, and my father was stationed in Monterey twice in my younger years. I have a photo of myself standing in our backyard wearing a plaid jumper that closely resembles the California state tartan pattern.
Many traditional patterns weren't created solely because the colors look nice together, or the plants that produced the dyes were readily available. The colors themselves are often used symbolically to represent aspects of the locale.
The State of California tartan pattern is a perfect example of how color is used symbolically. Adopted in 2001 as the official state tartan for general use by all those living in the state, it is closely based on the Clan Muir tartan, after the famous botanist and environmentalist, John Muir, who lived in California.
From the California State Library:The official State Tartan is described as a pattern or sett consisting of alternate squares of meadow green and pacific blue that are separated and surrounded by narrow charcoal bands. The squares of meadow green are divided by a gold seam that is supported by charcoal lines on each side. There are three redwood stripes, the middle of which is broader, that are added to each side of the gold seam. The pacific blue square is divided by a sky blue stripe, which is supported on each side by charcoal lines.
The tartan's blue reflects the sky, the ocean, and the state' s rivers and lakes, while the green stands for the state's mountains, fields, and parks. The red, gold, and blue seams signify the arts, sciences, agriculture, and industry of California.
Considering the symbolic colors in many traditional and official district tartans for the regions of Scotland, the United States, and Canada, I've become semi-obsessed with creating symbolic tartan patterns - for characters, regions, and royal houses of fictional fantasy worlds among other projects. While these are fun, I find it much more satisfying to create an identity tartan for real people.
Recently I designed a custom tartan to be used in a wedding for a Plaidwerx customer. Her ancestors hailed from County Donegal in Ireland, but didn't have a clan tartan. The family surname did bear a coat of arms though, which I easily found online, noting that it featured quite a bit of royal blue and golden yellow. Using the County Donegal pattern as a jumping off point, I created a tartan for their family, using the colors from the crest. I named this the Coyle Family Tartan. Fabric was purchased and turned into cummerbund, bow tie, tablecloths, and more.
This was definitely one of the most satisfying projects I've undertaken since creating Plaidwerx, and it made me smile to think of the father of the bride escorting his daughter down the aisle sporting a tartan I'd designed specifically for their family.
