Introduction

The sample book and other formats that contain examples of a product or technique are uniquely tangible tools which link together design, technology, and marketing. They have been used for more than 300 years for the merchandizing and recording of design alternatives in many areas of the decorative arts, including wallcoverings, ceramics, and textiles. Multiple Choice: From Sample to Product examines sampling formats from the collections of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and Smithsonian Institution Libraries, which illustrate a vast selection of available design options and make the connection between samples and final products.

The use of samples was most prevalent from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, especially in the textile industry. However, early antecedents can be found in medieval artists’ model books and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century textile pattern books, which recorded design motifs for lace, embroidery, and woven textiles. Both of these early forms contained many of the hallmarks of later sampling formats: experimentation, documentation, marketing, and dissemination.

Sampling formats fall into several categories: designers’ records of ornament, pattern ideas, or technical trials and experiments; manufacturers’ annotated records for quality control and stocktaking; records of patterns for commissioning orders; sales samples for marketing purposes; and samples that served industry functions, such as design subscription services, forecasting, and color standardization.

Multipurpose, and often with an accidental beauty, sampling formats provide a detailed view into the manufacturing processes, technological innovations, design tastes, styles, and color sensibilities of other eras. Usually in pristine condition, protected in a book or other enclosure, the information contained in samples has been uncompromised by time. As highly prized sample books traveled with their creators, they spread technology and artistic ingenuity across regions and countries and helped raise the visibility of design via portable, visual, and tactile samples.

As contemporary design industries move to open-sourcing and electronic formats for the marketing of their products, physical samples may soon become obsolete. The sampling formats in Cooper-Hewitt's collection and in the Smithsonian Institution Libraries are a resource with both historic and aesthetic value, and provide a vibrant perspective into the past.