What a kilim teaches about grids

A kilim is woven row by row, and every motif is counted in threads before it appears. There is no undo: the grid is decided before the work begins.

Constraints that make patterns

The weave only allows certain angles, so diamonds and steps appear everywhere. The limitation is the style. CSS grid gives us the opposite problem: anything is possible, so nothing is decided.

Decide the rows first

• Pick a column count and a gap, and keep them
• Let content span columns instead of inventing new widths
• Repeat a motif rather than adding a new one

A page that repeats three widths reads calmer than one that uses eleven. The weaver knew this centuries before we had a word for design systems.

Pattern is a promise kept many times.