Star Tessellation

This body of practice based research was peer reviewed and selected for presentation at the exhibition, ‘Future Voices: Celebrating Diversity’ which ran in conjunction with the conference ‘New Craft Future Voices’.

The physical artefacts on show were the result of a three year research project investigating the relationship between the surface aesthetic of digital designed and manufactured craft objects and the underlying topological elements commonly found in 3D Computer Aided Design software. The current model used by 3D CAD is limited and relies on a singular method of triangulation to describe 3D form; as a result the objects created using these technologies exhibit certain similarities in their visual surface aesthetics.

Building on tessellations described by mathematician McNeill (2002), the research involved new types of topology being created and tested against existing standard tessellations to establish their effect on surface aesthetic.
For each new tessellation a series of test pieces were produced using a Computer Numeric Controlled milling machine. This systematic testing was needed to accurately evaluate how the digital files behaved in the physical world, and resulted in the creation of a unique resource library of milled surfaces.

This research is the first to consider the implications of topology in relation to the surface aesthetics of objects; it aims to counter the dominance of triangulated surfaces as exhibited in work by Riedelbauch (2004). The research has led to the development of new tessellations which dramatically expand the opportunities for craft practitioners to create new and unique surface aesthetics.

This research also has implications beyond the field of craft practice to other disciplines utilising CAD for the creation and testing of 3D forms, such as engineering and architecture.

• http://onviewonline.craftscouncil.org.uk...