The Art Of Geometry - Bathsheba Grossman

"I'm an artist exploring the region between art and mathematics, and this is my gallery and storefront. My work is about life in three dimensions: working with symmetry and balance, getting from a zero point to infinity, and always finding beauty in geometry".
Bathsheba Grossman

That's to say, I like to think about shapes, and occasionally I think up a new one, and usually they come out very symmetrical. I'm like any artist in that it's difficult to explain exactly how and why this happens.

So I'll write about my odd points. Apparently I've studied more math than most artists. I don't use it very directly – I'm certainly not a research mathematician, and most of my designs are drawn rather than computed – but it's plain that my creative engine is interested in this subject.

I like technology. 3D printing in metal is my main medium, and I also work with subsurface laser damage in glass. This isn't because I love gadgets, it's much more trouble to do this than to use the mature tech that most sculptors enjoy. I do it because the shapes I have in mind aren't moldable, and I want to make a lot of them. Those two constraints, taken together, turn out to be remarkably constraining: most traditional sculpture technology simply doesn't operate on un-moldable objects.

I have a grass-roots business model. I don't limit editions, I price as low as costs permit, and most of my selling is direct to you, by way of this site. My plan is to make these designs available, rather than restrict the supply. It's more like publishing than like gallery-based art marketing: we don't feel that a book has lost anything because many people have read it. In fact it becomes more valuable as it gains wide currency and influence. With the advent of 3D printing, this is the first moment in art history when sculpture can be, in this sense, published. I think it's the wave of the future.

That said, most people's next question is "So, is this your real job?" At present I'm happy to say that it is. It took me about ten years from art school to make a dollar, during which I worked as a programmer, college professor, tech writer, typist, web designer, etc., making sculpture by hand as best I could. In the last years of the 20th century, 3D printing was developed to a level that could do my work, and then, quite suddenly, I began to be an artist.

That was satisfying of course, but it brought new challenges as I studied up on CAD, made my mistakes with new media, and started figuring how to make the money work. There's always so much to do! I've tried to include on this site everything that you need to understand what I do, and to take up the subject yourself if you feel inclined. There's plenty of room.

But none of this is important to the work: naturally I'm proud of it, but now it makes its own way. I hope you'll enjoy my designs. They're visions of order in the universe, my peaceful places. I feel calm and hopeful in making them, and I hope they will bring some of that satisfaction into your life.

What's the impact of all this? Suprisingly large. My work has appeared in the New York Times, the London Times and Der Spiegel, as well as Wired, Discover and Make magazines. One of my lamps was in TIME Magazine's 100 most influential designs of 2007. My sculptures have appeared in two hit TV shows, Second Life, and a Japanese videogame commercial. John Conway and Douglas Hofstadter used pictures of them in recent books. They've been shown in Italy, Spain, Korea, New York and Cleveland. An irony-free Wikipedia entry for me was started in 2004. And this site moved over a quarter million dollars of art in 2007, which isn't bad considering I wrote the whole thing by hand, with web skills dating from about 1996.

On the supply side, I've been influential in popularizing direct-metal printing as an art medium. My work has led many artists, both mathematical and the other kind, to experiment with the technology, and some are prolific in it. The success of my work has invited 3D printing suppliers and developers to consider art and design applications as a strong market that is worth developing.

The upshot is that I've become known in geek culture and in the 3D printing industry. I haven't made much inroad into the traditional art world, but then showing in galleries is not a focus for me. I made a conscious decision about ten years ago to work directly for the viewer – you – rather than try to get the attention of cultural gatekeepers. The logical outcome of this decision was that only a small group of mathematicians and enthusiasts would ever see this site. It's been a huge surprise, and a testament to the love of math and geometry that's out there untapped, that it didn't turn out that way.

Thank you for letting me have this job.

Metal Process

A look into how I do metalwork.

Studio

A quick tour of my workspaces.

text excerpted from Betsheba Grossman website

Industial Design: Urwerk Watches

Like your Rolls-Royce, Louis Vuitton bags, and priceless, endangered animal collection, the Urwerk UR-202 turbine regulated watch is another expensive item you don't really need. Still... you want it, right? Who wouldn't want this beast, what with its self-winding kinetic motor, telescopic minute hands, orbiting and revolving hour satellites, and fancy, mechanical turbines that we understand almost nothing about. But hey, when your timepiece is more complicated than a jet plane -- and likely more expensive -- you've probably made it. Check out the totally awesome video after the break to see this thing in... uh, action.



One of the most interesting innovations encountered in the case of the UR-202 is the fact that the rotating vanes used in the past have been replaced by miniature twin turbines (miniature air compressors), which are coupled with the winding rotor. According to the position of the selector lever, the turbines act as shock absorbers, cushioning the sharp movements of the rotor and thus reducing wear and increasing the lifespan of the movement.
Furthermore, the turbine system is totally self-contained within the waterproof case, which provides a better level of protection even when the user decides to go for some extreme sports-related activities. The air flows from under the turbines and is channeled up past them under a saphire plate and down through holes leading to a tiny air chamber. read more @ www.softpedia.com

UR-202

The URWERK UR103 is not defined as a measuring instrument, it is emotion. It is the Art of time. This emblematic line increases today with the presentation of the UR103T.

The UR103T, “T” for Time, Temerity, Telluric? “T” of the 103T is a mystery which is revealed with the first glance. Observe the heart of this creation, you find a new form of life there. A moving structure took seat there. Tarantula!
The last born of collection UR103 borrows more than one gene ADN from famous representing gossamer-like world:

UR - 103T

An esthetics. The central cross of the traditional UR103 – orbital titanium crosses – was replaced by a whole structure of metal. A composition in ARCAP which encloses the four satellites of the hours, while letting appear only one, premium, that of the exact hour which ravels the length of the rail of the minute. Over the UR103T, time takes again its entire conceptual and philosophical dimension.

Over the years, the people over at Urwerk have come up with a pretty comprehensive line of watches, all included in the 103 family. However, back in the first half of 2008, the watchmaker has decided to finally move on and inaugurated the 202 collection with the UR-202 model, touted to be the world's first watch to use compressed air for winding purpose.

URWERK are known for their cutting-edge and in your face designs. They won’t shy away from a challenge and if bucking trends were a hobby they’d certainly be the fan club presidents. The UR-CC1 is certainly playing to their strengths. The UR-CC1 makes use of two horizontal indicators displayed by two retrograde cylinders: one for the hour, the other for the minutes. And like you had any question about the complexity of its inner-workings. read more @nexus404.com/Blog

UR-CC1

Prices start @ $65,000

Ensaio: Ferrari Aurea

(text courtesy of DGF Design) Ferrari Aurea arose from a graduation thesis with the support of Ferrari engineers. The Aurea Project was born from the desire to place the F1 DNA on a normal car. With the teamwork of Ferrari's Product Engineers, the project saw a good deal of modification to become a sports car heir to the 360 Modena.

One of the major requests was to “dress” the engine-frame of the 360 Modena. The light changes made to the frame have been verified by a special calculating program (Straus) and compared with the original one. The development has been cured by three Ferrari’s engineers:

• Amedeo Visconti: coordinating and homologation rules supervisor;
• Luca Caldirola: external co-examiner who with engineer Stefano Carmassi (responsible for Enzo’s fluid dynamic) resolved the aerodynamics.

The formal and stylistic evolution went through hand rendering to study models to computer graphics models (Rhinoceros and 3d Studio Max).

Mr. Freddie Cole: The Greatest Living Jazz Singer.

Lionel Frederick Cole, born October 15, 1931 in Chicago, was the fifth child to bless the harmonious household of Edward and Pelina Cole. By the age of five, under the benevolent guidance of his father, a minister, and his musically inclined mother, he started to play the family piano.

Masterful vocalist and pianist, Freddy Cole captivates listeners with his elegant presence, subtle phrasing, and intimate singing style. Although he has been charming audiences in the States and abroad for over 40 years, Freddy did not find wider acclaim until the 1990s.

Having a family member already in the limelight has its mixed-blessings. For much of his career, Freddy was overshadowed by the larger-than-life persona and legendary career of his brother Nat King Cole. He had to struggle to find his own niche in the jazz world.

A natural musician, Freddy was also a gifted athlete with professional aspirations. However, when a high school sports injury put an end to his budding football career, he decided to pursue music, issuing his first recording, "The Joke's On Me," in 1952.

Freddy continued his music education, first at Chicago's Roosevelt Institute, and later at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. After earning degrees from Juilliard and the New England Conservatory of Music, he hit the thriving jazz scene of New York City, taking whatever work he could find and learning the ropes from such influential mentors as drummer Sonny Greer.

In the mid 1970s, Freddy built an international fan base with a series of European recordings. His album, One More Love Song went gold in Brazil. Because his intimate singing style resembled that of many Brazilian balladeers, the Brazilians embraced him like one of their own.



Today, Freddy Cole feels "blest" to be doing what he loves best -– telling stories through music, reaching people with his exuberant warmth and inexorable talent. We should consider ourselves equally as fortunate to hear more from this jazz great with the panache of Duke Ellington and a voice like "raw silk."
www.npr.org

"Freddy has an impeccable sense of swing... he is, overall, the most maturely expressive male jazz singer of his generation, if not the best alive."
The New York Times

"Gorgeous autumnal baritone, expressive phrasing and pitch-perfect feel for jazz standards, pop tunes and love ballads."
People Magazine

Carrozziere Bertone BAT Cars

Bertone Alfa Romeo BAT 5, 7, 9

Alfa Romeo contacted Giuseppe 'Nuccio' Bertone of the Bertone design house in order to commission three concept vehicles with extensive research on the effects of drag on a vehicle. The idea was to create vehicles with the lowest possible drag coefficient.
The cars where named BAT for "Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica and were built upon the Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis.

Each year between 1953 and 1955 at the Turin Auto show, Bertone and Alfa Romeo presented a BAT concept, the BAT 5, 7 and 9.
The cars were successful in their goal, the best achieving a drag coefficient of 0.19, an achievement even by today's standards.
For each of the cars, Alfa Romeo provided a five-speed gearbox and a powerful four-cylinder engine that produced more than 90 horsepower, good enough to propel the car to a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h).

B.A.T. 5 was first shown at the Turin Auto show in 1953.
The shape of the front aims to eliminate the problem of airflow disruption at high speeds. The design also aims to do away with any extra resistance generated by the wheels turning, as well as achieving a structure which would create the fewest possible air vortices.
The most surprising part of the car has to be the tail, with the length-ways rear windscreen divided by a slim pillar, and the two fins tapering upwards and slightly inwards, for a highly aesthetic finish.
Bertone had solved the problem of aerodynamic stability, creating a car with an excellent index of penetration, with a Cd of 0.23.

B.A.T. 7 was shown at the Turin Auto Show in 1954, a year after the BAT 5.
The BAT 7 took up the styling dictates of the previous model, the BAT 5, and worked them to the limit. For this 1954 design, as for the other BAT models Bertone added some elements from his experience working on wing profiles in the aeronautical industry.
The result was the exaggerated shape of the large, curved tail fins.
The nose was lower than the BAT 5's, and the protrusions where the headlights would normally be found stuck out even further.
The headlights were located next to the nose and moved to point down when used. The Cd was only 0.19.

B.A.T. 9 is the third and final BAT car to be made and shown at the Turin Auto show in 1955.
It was made to look more like the current Alfa Romeo models than the other BATs.
It has been called the best looking of all the BATs, but there are those who disagree.
The BAT 9 did away with the marked wing lines of the previous models in favour of a cleaner, more sober line.
The tail fins, which in the other two models, 5 and 7, had a real wing-like look, were sized down into two small metal plates, much like the tail fins in production on American and some European cars of the time.
Bertone transformed the highly creative styling of the two previous BAT models into design credibility, abandoning the extremes of the other designs.

1953 BAT 5

1954 BAT 7

1955 BAT 9

source: coachbuilder.com

2008 BAT 11

Amid turmoil surrounding ownership of Bertone between managers and Lilli Bertone came this spectacular BAT 11dk prototype. It was ordered by passionate enthusiast Gary Kaberle who owned one of the three class BATs made by Carrozzeria Bertone. He provided initial sketches to Bertone had them realize his dream: a modern interpretation of the BAT 9d he once owned.

In 2008, Bertone dropped their typical stand at the Geneva Motor Show and instead privately released the BAT 11dk in the city of Geneva. Subsequently, it was shipped to Gary Kaberle in Michigan and shown for the first time at the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance.

The new car takes some design cues from the originals. The most prominent of these is the huge curved rear wings from BAT 7. Like the three cars, it also has a rounded greenhouse, excellent proportions and a hint of art deco futurism. One of the more unique features are moving fenders that make clearance for front-wheel steering.

BAT 11 carries the initials dk for Kaberle's late wife who died of breast cancer. The designer of the original BATs also fell ill with same disease "so we’re doing some things to dedicate the car to my wife and the Scaglione family" said Kaberle at the Detroit Auto Show.

Back in the sixties Nuccio Bertone designed a series of exceptional show cars of which his 5th, 7th and 11th designs became reality. Launched in consecutive years, the cars were made on top of the Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis. At the time, they were so far ahead of the scope of automotive design and so daring that they became legendary.

Unfortunately, BAT 11dk is only a non-functioning mock-up with operable doors, interior and drivetrain. Throughout the past year Gary Kaberle has displayed the car with hopes that someone might come up a couple million dollars to manufacture the design.

source: super cars.net
Story by Richard Owen

Smart Bikes - New Concepts

Reinvention Of The Wheel?

Perhaps, but who am I to argue with designers. I get this uncanny feeling that there is a deluge of cycle concepts floating around, so if you get bombarded by one too many concepts, please bear with us. And what have we here; an urban cycle that can be toned down to save space when not in use. Why? Urbanites don’t have spacious homes, and those who do…they don’t need bikes, they use shiny cars. The design consists of 2 systems: Wheel folding system & Bike Structure System.

Eco // 07 – Compactable Urban Bicycle

Wheel folding system

The Wheel is composed of six modules, each one has a double pivot in the joints, this allows the wheel to fold and become smaller, the spokes are contained in the inner structure of the wheel, when you unfold the system, the spokes rotate to the center of the mechanism where it attaches to the center of the wheel.

Bike Structure System

The double triangle structure is composed of expandable modules, each one collapses to a smaller dimension and then this modules aligns with the rotation of the axis in the joint of the structure. A special X aligns all the modules to their position.

Designer: Victor Aleman

Sporty Bike

I told you there was this bike conspiracy going on amongst the designers, add the Furious Sports Bike to the list. Dishy in its current avatar; the bike boasts of an aerodynamic design coupled with user-friendly ergonomics. What I really like is the ample display nestled between the handlebars. You get details like the route-map, current bike gear, temperature, time and speed displayed on it. The seat however looks tad uncomfy for me.

Designer: Nenad Kostadinov

source: yankodesign.com

Happy Basin

We tend to associate polluted water problems with under-developed countries and rarely give a thought to how we would cope with a situation when our fully developed city comes under the siege of Mother Nature’s fury! At times like this, contraptions like the Happy Basin for instant purified drinking water can come as a relief. The basin includes nano ceramic filters embedded in the holes at the bottom of the cup that help in the filtration of polluted water. You simply need to push the basin into the water body and let surface tension buoyancy take its course.

The ‘basin with holes’ mimicking the world typography is an innovative product that has nano ceramic filters embedded at the bottom. The ‘water intake holes’ via surface tension of the polluted water allows it to pass through the filters and consequently, makes it drinkable.

Designers: Woo sik Kim & Duck soo Choi

sources: greendiary.com

yankodesign.com