Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur (1899–1904)
Haeckel Organic
Radiolaria, medusae and diatoms, drawn the way a microscope shows them.
- Motifsradiolarian lattice · medusa bell · diatom disc · siphonophore chain
- Line weightintricate
- Available onprints · home · apparel · digital
The story
Where Haeckel Organic comes from
Ernst Haeckel published Kunstformen der Natur between 1899 and 1904: a hundred plates of microscopic sea life arranged with the symmetry of architectural ornament. He has been fairly criticised for tidying his specimens into more symmetry than they really had, and that tension is exactly what makes the plates useful to us — they sit on the line between a scientific record and a decorative scheme. Our designs take the structures he drew most often: the geodesic lattice of a radiolarian shell, the ribbed bell of a jellyfish, the radial ribs of a diatom. The plates are public domain, so the originals are freely available; what we add is line weight that survives printing on fabric.
Samples
Four from this family
Everything it is on
2 products
Want this design on something we do not make yet?
Tell us the product and we will say honestly whether our partners can print it and whether the drawing survives at that size. Some of our families do not work on small items, and we would rather say so than sell you a blur.