Looking for a more meaningful and unique way to connect and inspire your team? Tired of simply sharing team cocktails over zoom? Our mindful marbling workshops are now available for private events and business groups to organise and online. Join us to reconnect, slow down and rediscover your creative selves.
“In a world that’s feeling increasingly complex, to find moments when we invite beauty back in is really powerful.”
Anna Murray
Marbling can be traced back to twelfth-century Japan, where it was termed “suminagashi” or “ink floating”; it is the process of floating ink on water to create psychedelic patterns on paper that mirror snaking rivers and curving mountain contours. Each print is unique, capturing a single moment in time.
We’re now offering our mindful marbling workshops online for business groups and private parties of ten people or more. The two-hour session will be hosted by Patternity co-founder Anna Murray and will begin with an introduction to our pattern philosophy. After that, put your computer screen to one side and get your hands stuck in – don’t worry, marbling kits will be sent to you beforehand.
While at the end of our workshop, you’ll have made a beautiful print to keep framed at home, the aim of our workshop is to reconnect you with a creative process, rather than an outcome. We encourage you to put away your phones, slow down and tune into how your hands are swirling the ink and water.
"Participants get to enjoy a sense of being together but also separate, creating a contemplative space within their own home, while simultaneously being part of one creative process"
Through intention and concentration, the process of marbling brings you back to the present moment, creating a space for mindfulness in a frenetic world. “You enter a flow state,” explains Anna Murray. For the psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi entering a state of flow is when you become fully absorbed in an activity for its own sake. “It’s the opposite of how we live in our digital world,” comments Anna, where ads and influencers battle for our attention and have us constantly flicking between one thing and the next. “A flow state enables you to go a lot deeper into a process and connect with something much bigger than yourself.”
Don’t worry if you feel that creativity is out of your comfort zone; marbling is unique in the fact that it doesn’t require any specific skills. The only thing you need to do is relinquish control and let the process and movement of the ink create the art for you. All that is required from you is receptivity and fluidity. Serendipity decides the beauty of the piece; just let your hands, breath and mind flow with the water and reconnect to natures patterns.
“A flow state enables you to go a lot deeper into a process and connect with something much bigger than yourself.”
"Through intention and concentration, the process of marbling brings you back to the present moment, creating a space for mindfulness in a frenetic world"
“We call it “mindful marbling” because our workshops are non-judgemental,” explains Anna. Only two things can stand in your way – rigidity and comparing yourself to others. “We help you to stop laying judgemental thoughts over the top of your practice and catch those mental patterns when they emerge,” she continues. Those niggling voices in the back of your head telling you that “you aren’t artistic enough” will be softened, and you’ll be brought back to the present moment. At the end of the session, we hope you will emerge emboldened and receptive to new creative possibilities.
Our online marbling workshops offer the perfect opportunity for your team to reconnect in a meaningful way. Participants get to enjoy a sense of being together but also separate, creating a contemplative space within their own home, while simultaneously being part of one creative process. “Understanding that every member of the team is part of one whole is very important to businesses.. well everyone... right now”, explains Anna. “In a world that’s feeling increasingly complex, to find moments when we invite beauty back in is really powerful.”
"Those niggling voices in the back of your head telling you that “you aren’t artistic enough” will be softened, and you’ll be brought back to the present moment. At the end of the session, we hope you will emerge emboldened and receptive to new creative possibilities"
These workshops are currently available for private events and business groups of up to 10 attendees and more. Our sessions last from 1-2 hours and can be tailored to different needs and budgets.
We will be offering virtual community workshops for the public in due course. Please email studio@patternity.org if of interest