Nowadays, Celtic knotwork can be found on many everyday things, including the Celtic engravings found on silverware and jewellery, and the embellishment on clothes and fabrics. You may have also spotted these ancient patterns painted on stained glass windows at the church or maybe you have noticed celtic lettering in books. These designs are used to illuminate (decorate) things.
Additionally, Celtic art can express pride of the culture, religion and heritage of the Celtic people. The Celts were Druidic nature worshippers, this meant that they believed that natural things, like people, animals, plants, and earth, were all connected and dependent on each other. This is reflected in Celtic designs and alphabetical letters - everything all joins together. The never-ending lines commonly found on Celtic patterns symbolizes what the Celts believed in - infinity, they believed that nothing had a beginning or an end; that for each death there is a new life and the cycle repeats.
There are many different Celtic patterns, for example spirals, zig-zags, lines and curves that overlap and interweave. The never-ending lines are symbolic for eternity. I think that Celtic designs are similar to plaits because they go in and out.
Celtic designs are often very complicated and detailed, but they are not always that intricate, there are also more simplistic Celtic patterns as well.
The colours of Celtic designs and symbols are usually very contrasting, so the letters/patterns stand out from the background. This contrast effect is achieved by using the opposite colours of the colour wheel, like green and red, blue and orange, or yellow and purple. It seems like colours such as emerald green, gold, yellow, red and blue are popular colours used for the designs - especially green, it is probably because it represents nature. I have noticed that most celtic designs use mainly primary and secondary colours.
Celtic designs that have been inspired by the ancient Celts have passed on for generations and still exist in the world we live in today!