One of my absolute favorites.
Pattern Description
This pattern is a dense woven surface built from short, straight line segments layered in multiple directions, crossing and interlocking to form a texture that reads as basketry or plaiting rather than a printed grid.
The strokes group into loose, oddly-shaped cells that shift in size and orientation as you move across the surface, so although the pattern does eventually tile, it appears seamless and the repetition is not obvious at first.
In many places the lines curve slightly rather than staying rigid, which softens the effect and keeps it from reading as purely geometric, closer to the organic irregularity you’d find in an actually woven reed or textile structure than in a mechanically repeated print, especially in some of the larger curves that seem to form interrupted circles or ovals.
It has a handmade quality that a lot of security patterns don’t bother with, since most rely on strict repetition for their optical effect, while this one gets its density and visual noise from layered improvisation instead. The closest visual kin might be things like traditional basket weave patterns or the overlapping hatchwork you see in certain engraving and etching techniques, where crosshatching builds up tone through accumulated line rather than through solid fill.
This one is especially worthy of a close and careful study, since the eye keeps finding new little enclosed shapes and near-symmetries that never quite resolve into a fixed unit, which is probably the most successful sort of security pattern art there is.
Note that the official name for this one is “Wesco”–it’s a trademarked design by a company called Western States that does envelopes, labels, and packaging, based out of Butler, WI–my home state! Western States has this to say about Wesco:
Our most popular tint, the Wesco pattern has a high opacity that provides complete protection against viewing an envelope’s contents. We have Wesco envelopes in stock in a wide range of sizes from #6 1/4 through #10, in both regular and window styles.
You can see their page featuring the pattern right here.
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