Simple forms can lay bare profound beauty, and it’s this awareness that inspires Design Travels, the latest collection of Sunbrella®fabrics by Joe Ruggiero, introduced during December 2016 Showtime in High Point, North Carolina. “The simplest form can become a piece of artwork— a stone or shell, the twist of fabric on the fashion runway, or something you’d see in a museum,” Ruggiero says. “Design travels throughout the world, in traditional and new global contexts, and it can travel into homes across the world.”

In Design Travels, Ruggiero introduces nine new patterns: Crisscross, Kingston, Kuno, Mankato, Medford, Mosaic, Quilted, Traction, and Vines. With a hand inspired by Italian silks, the pattern in Crisscross is reminiscent of the borders in Italian frescoes and architectural friezes.

Calling to mind the tradition of woolen English sporting clothes, Kingston presents a mens wear inspired check featuring color depth. Inspired by Japanese tie-dyes and the ancient art of indigo dyeing, Kuno’s simplicity of pattern recreates a rustic, handwoven construction, including the imperfections of something that is hand-dyed or handwoven.

“I came back to the influence of the ikat, one of the earliest techniques of tie-dye in the world, for the primitive eye design in Mankato,” Ruggiero says. Blending the traditional French inspiration of 15th-century floral tapestries with a more contemporary comfort, Medford revives the simple elegance of the Loire Valley.

The repeating patterns of Mosaic unfold the architecture of Spain’s majestic Moorish palaces. Medieval knights who wore jackets of quilted materials close to the skin under mesh and mail inspired the classic diamond pattern of Quilted.

In refreshing colorways inspired by soft waves and sands, Traction brings to mind days lounging near the Mediterranean Sea. Taken from an ancient floor tile outside Madrid, Vines’ purely organic design is smaller in scale—almost a stripe, with a dash of whimsy.

Ruggiero says, “There is a great exchange of design across places and cultures. I look for its potential to fit into upholstery, draperies, lighting, bedding, and more. I like to see it travel into people’s homes.”