Dancheong-style pattern generator

Bright stripes and lotus medallions in the spirit of Korean temple paintwork. Choose the number of petals, how many stripes make up the band, whether a nested diamond frames the lotus and whether small lotuses sit between, and export a seamless pattern as SVG, PNG or CSS.

Open in the generator How it works

Red and blue lotuses in nested diamonds between bands of blue, red and gold stripes on a cream ground

Paint for wooden eaves

Dancheong is the traditional painted decoration of Korean wooden buildings such as temples and palaces. The name joins words for red and for blue-green, and the paintwork covers eaves, beams and brackets in bands of strong color. Blue, red, yellow, white and black are the classic colors.

Typical dancheong combines bands of parallel stripes with medallions of lotus flowers and other motifs. This generator makes a panel in that spirit. It does not copy any one temple, and it does not follow the strict rules of real dancheong painting.

How the generator builds them

Ornamatic lays a band of parallel stripes across the top of the cell, in the three colors in turn. Below it sits a lotus: a ring of pointed petals with a shorter ring turned half a step between them, and a bright center. The lotus can be framed by nested diamonds, and a small six-petalled lotus can sit between neighboring medallions.

The panel repeats in a rectangle, so the pattern is seamless. A taller cell gives the medallions more room.