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Delft Now & Overused: two styles from museum archives
I built two custom Recraft V4 Styles from public-domain objects in museum collections, then used each one to imagine things their makers never could: our offices, our clothes, our phones and our daily habits.
1. DELFT NOW
What if the 17th-century painters of Delft decorated the way we work and dress today?
References: a Delftware vase from De Grieksche A factory (c. 1690–1700) and a Delft plate (1695–1705), both at the Art Institute of Chicago.
From the vase I took the cobalt garlands and lattice painted on white tin glaze; from the plate, the flowers, fences and small birds. Both were cropped to their painted surfaces so the style learns the brushwork and the blue-and-white palette, not the shape of the pottery.
The style is shown in three chapters: office and studio interiors, a product collection of bags, shoes, hats and accessories, and a studio lookbook.
2. OVERUSED
What if the things we use most aged 2,000 years overnight, and we kept using them anyway?
References: the Celestial Horse from China's Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and a bronze belt hook inlaid with gold and silver from the Warring States to Western Han period at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
From the horse I took the green verdigris patina and the worn surface of old bronze; from the belt hook, the thin lines of gold and silver inlay. Phones, earbuds, watches, remotes and keyboards take on the patina of a Han dynasty bronze, while the hands, the light and the moment stay photographic.
The style is shown as museum-like posters and everyday photography.
Two archives, two very different materials, one idea: the past can still dress the present.
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Project Title: Surreal World 🌀✨
Description: Hey everyone! Here is my submission for the Recraft Challenge — a poster series called "Surreal World"! 🎨
For this project, I dove deep into the Public Domain Image Archive and gathered vintage 18th and 19th-century illustrations from various talented artists of that era — think old-school book engravings, scientific botanical plates, and classical etchings.
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I wanted to give these historical artworks a fresh, weird, and fun twist by mixing them with modern surrealism, bold colors, and psychedelic vibes. With Recraft, I blended classic cross-hatching textures and aged paper looks with funky symbols, neon contrasts, and dreamlike patterns.
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Hope you enjoy this little trip where history meets surreal imagination! Let me know what you think! 👇✨
i love these!
Press-on nails are my modern take 😊
I made one Recraft Style that draws press-on nails as if a mineral painter from 1810 had drawn them.
Many people do their nails now: at home, in minutes, a new set whenever they feel like it. Small brands sell them all over TikTok and Pinterest, and they need designs nobody else has. This Style gives them 200-year-old ones.
I trained it on six of James Sowerby's hand-painted rock prints (1802 to 1817), plus a gold ring and a stone table from the Met.
Try it in 3 steps 👍
1. Open the Style and paste: "Five almond press-on nails on cream paper, red jasper with gold veins, one nail with a small gold cabochon." Change "red jasper with gold veins" to try another stone, like "pale pink stone with dark red speckles".
2. Remove the Style, add your drawing as a reference, and paste: "Make these real press-on nails, same colors, white background"
3. Add the set as a reference and paste: "Hands covering the face, wearing these exact nails, red jasper with gold veins, white background"
What if the Old Masters designed sportswear?
While taking part in the Recraft contest, I started thinking about how to mix classical painting with modern brands. I experimented with 18th–19th-century oil painting aesthetics and thought: why not take this idea further and create an entire sportswear brand around it?
Classic art, modern athletes, contemporary fashion. A little unexpected? Maybe. But that's what makes it fun! So, I created a sportswear brand concept that brings these two worlds together. The result is right below 👇
Recraft project: https://www.recraft.ai/project/ae17a521-566c-457e-9482-d4b94157111f
Archive references:
Sick art direction