Design Trend - Owls
Owls first appeared as a design trend back in 2007 but it appears they have some staying power. I recently opened up spin magazine and saw they were doing a small article on cd and music poster art. Staring back at me from the pages was this little guy.
I adore owls and I noticed that it isn't just the owl that is the design trend it's also the style of the owl. Simple shapes put together to resemble a cute rather cartoony owl look. Sometimes one shape will have a pattern such a paisly, or dots.
You can find owls on almost anything from greeting cards, shirts, fabric, owl pillows, owl purses and bags, jewelry, and even ceramics.
I think the owl became a design trend when vintage t-shirts started becoming popular. The Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute owl and the owl from the tootie pop commercial were fodder for such t-shirts.
Owls even in the simplest forms are easy to recognize, thus giving way to being easy to reproduce on fabric prints, and created into wall decals. A lot of the owls have a vintage look to them such as this ceramic planter which I love! He's just adorable.
The owls continue to be a huge trend in design and craft. Etsy.com is full of Owl art. There is some really great stuff out there. Ranging from Prints to change purses and everything in between.
I do own an owl pattern print shirt I've had it for a while but I still wear it to this day, It's too casual to wear to work though so I have to wear it on my off time.
The funny thing about owls is that they don't seem played out yet they have been a trend for a while. I'm not sure if its the animal or the style that works to keep it's staying power. It works well as a focal point or as a print. Perhaps much like the Skull Trend it has the same type of shape to it and can be styled many different ways.
The pattern prints work well for purses, bags and accessories. While the focal point owls seem to work well in paintings greetting cards and wall art.
I think it was first the pattern print that got the trend going and then it gained momentum and staying power and started being used in a variety of mediums and media.
The owl trend will probably be around for a while and perhaps they should be.
They are cute and fun and deserve some time in the spot light.
Images 2,3,4 and 6 are from www.etsy.com
Comments
I used to have the best little owl night light that looked vaguely like the owl print there. I wonder where it went. Damn.
(Of course, I can't look at a post about owls without thinking of this...)
A cock that stays up all night.
These are all very 70s retro, and very cute! I have a bank the looks similar (but taller and with color in the eyes) to the planter that I got when I was but a wee lass in the early 70s. We also had a cool little pencil holder/sharpener that was a brown owl.
There were some really cute Keds slip on shoes in an owl design a couple years ago...oh here!
(saw this on the explore page!)
Congrats on making the Culture page!
I think one of the factors to the owl's staying power is that they are definitely cute, without being super cutesy. Keeps the "overdone" factor down.
Owls are really cute. They deserve to be everywhere! Besides, if we get people interested in them, it could help with the awareness of animals and the environment
i think owl design has been omnipresent for quite a while. it has the cat ears and big round eyes and a round body that's making it almost garuntee to be cute and eyecatching. of course it also has different symbolic meaning to it like night owl or dr. owl, which most people can identify with at least one, if not both :)