This design is inspired by an oceanographic phenomenon known as the Ekman Spiral, or Ekman Transport. When the wind blows across the ocean, the surface water moves at a 45-degree angle to the wind, and each successively deeper layer of water moves at a greater angle, but more slowly (due to friction), than the surface. As you descend down through the ocean, the currents form a spiral. The quilt is my 2-D interpretation of this 3-D phenomenon.
