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Design

Portable and Precise, Horizon’s ‘Swiss Army Knife of Sketch Tools’ Combines an Array of Functions into One Ruler

To render a perfect circle or measure precise angles, designers and artists rely on a slew of tools to compose accurate sketches and diagrams, but with so many different devices, one drawback is portability. Dubbed the “Swiss Army knife of sketch tools” in a new Kickstarter campaign, the team at Horizon has created a new double-sided ruler that combines functions like an imperial and metric compass, protractor, T-square, circle stencils, and four straightedges in inches, centimeters, pixels, and picas—all packed into a laser-cut, stainless steel tool the size of a credit card. They have also incorporated the Helvetica typeface, which rose to popularity in the mid-20th century for its clarity, to make the measurements even easier to read.

You can find more of Horizon’s designs on Instagram.

All images © Horizon

Design Food

Impeccably Precise Geometries Are Baked into Dinara Kasko’s Bold Cakes and Tarts

All images © Dinara Kasko, shared with permission

Ukrainian pastry chef Dinara Kasko (previously) brings a healthy dose of geometry to her meticulously designed cakes. Candy-colored spheres line a four-tier tower of layered sponge and cream, triangles connect to create an angular apple skin, and small pearls cloak a round form in a hypnotizing spectrum of pigments. Other patterns are more organic, like the shimmering petal-like confection that tops a strawberry tart. Many of the edible artworks are created by pouring mousse into silicone molds and then spraying the shapes in vibrant gradients or pastels.

Based in Ukraine before the war began in February, Kasko left her home and studios in Kharkiv following Russia’s invasion. She worked as a volunteer and fundraiser for a few months as she traveled around Europe before settling in a small space near Liverpool in recent weeks. “I lost everything in one day,” she says, sharing that many of her friends and family are still living in the country. “I’m working not like it was in Ukraine… It’s difficult to find the motivation to build the structure and work hard because you understand that someone can take it, and you can lose it again. On the other hand, I understand that I want to live much more.”

Kasko has started to photograph her cakes again after resettling and is currently working on launching two online courses in addition to designing a collection geared toward the home baker. Some of the molds she utilizes and sells are still handmade in and shipped from Kharkiv, despite pauses from bombings, loss of electricity and internet, or post office delays. You can shop those tools in Kasko’s store and follow her work on Instagram.

Photography

A Photographic Survey by Jessica Wynne of Chalkboards Filled by Mathematicians

Amie Wilkinson, of the University of Chicago, at the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris. Images courtesy of Jessica Wynne

Photographer and Fashion Institute of Technology professor Jessica Wynne has spent the last year documenting the numbers, symbols, and models drawn by mathematicians onto chalkboards. The photos capture the thought processes and physical efforts of professionals in a medium that has been largely abandoned.

Wynne tells Colossal that she enjoys photographing the dusty work surfaces because of “their beauty, mystery and the pleasure of creating a permanent document of something that is ephemeral.” The “Do Not Erase” photo series, soon to be published in a book by Princeton University Press for release in 2020, includes boards from institutions and universities around the world. Wynne hopes that viewers can appreciate the aesthetic of the worked surfaces while “simultaneously appreciating that the work on the board represents something much deeper, beyond the surface.”

Wynne adds that she feels a “kinship” with the mathematicians. “Their imagination guides them and similar to an artist they have the higher aspiration to create, discover, and find truth.” For updates on the release of her book and for more interesting photo series, head over to Jessica Wynne’s website.

Shuai Wang, Columbia University.

David Gabai, Princeton University.

Andre Neves, then at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J.

Sahar Khan, Columbia University.

David Damanik, Rice University.

Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, outside Paris.

Noga Alon, Princeton University.

Alex Zhongyi Zhang, Columbia University.

Tadashi Tokieda, Stanford University.

Art Craft

Precisely Calculated Sculptural Embroideries by Devi Vallabhaneni Turn Beads and Sequins into Fields of Flowers

Garden photographs: Todd Hellman

After a successful career in accounting and higher education entrepreneurship, Chicago-based artist Devi Vallabhaneni reconnected with her youthful passion for creativity and working with her hands. Vallabhaneni now brings together her twin interests in fashion and mathematics in her botanical beadwork. Using an algorithm she created in Excel, and working with haute couture materials like French sequins and beads, she creates dense fields of color and texture. “I innovated embroidery to be sculptural expressions that breathe new life into traditional materials, enabling them to live in unexpected spaces,” the artist explains.

Vallabhaneni works within the constraints of squares and rectangles, and more recently has moved away from abstraction and towards realism with her garden series. Inspired by fashion designer and garden enthusiast Hubert de Givenchy, Vallabhaneni situated her recent artworks in the Hollywood Hills, documenting each piece nestled amongst natural plants and flowers.

Over the past several years, the artist has delved into her creative practice with the same fervor she brought to her business career, and has completed coursework in weaving, textiles, embroidery, and apparel construction. Vallabhaneni is in the current cohort of artists in the Center Program at Chicago’s Hyde Park Art Center and is represented by Galerie Bettina von Arnim in Paris. The artist shares new work along with her wide-ranging visual inspirations on Instagram.

Design History

A Contemporary Take on “Byrne’s Euclid” Brings Geometry to Life as a Colorful Poster

When he’s not working as a web designer, Nicholas Rougeux delights in interpreting data visually. His latest creation is a celebration of Byrne’s Euclid. The book, created in 1847 by Irish engineer Oliver Byrne is fully titled The First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid in which Coloured Diagrams and Symbols are Used Instead of Letters for the Greater Ease of Learners. It illustrated parts of Euclid’s Elements, which the Greek mathematician is credited with writing in 300 B.C. The thirteen-book collection established geometry, number theory, and other core concepts still in use today.

For Rougeux’s version, the designer carefully reproduced each colorful, eye-catching design with geometric accuracy, and arranged and labeled them as they appear in Byrne’s book within the framework of a scaleable poster. The poster can be ordered in a variety of sizes via Rougeux’s website.

You can learn more here about Rougeaux’s painstaking process of translating the 172-year-old book into a contemporary print. See more of the Chicago-based designer’s data-driven creations, ranging from weather portraits of U.S. cities to an interpretation of Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours, on Behance.

Art Design

Unendurable Line: A Fun Short Film Tracks the Movement of Everyday Objects as a Real-Time Graph

There’s simply no compelling way to describe this unusual short film from director Daihei Shibata which attempts to plot the movement of everyday objects such as a light switch or a spring as a real-time graph. Sibata explains this as a film that expresses “the various thresholds hidden in everyday life.” OK, interesting enough, but when paired with a score by the EX NOVO Chamber Choir—turn up the volume—it suddenly becomes completely amazing. I’d love to see a whole series of these. If you like this, all check out The Beauty of Mathematics. (via The Awesomer)