Nick Sayers
I make geodesic sculptures, lighting and shelters from recycled, reused and repurposed materials. My work explores the beauty of maths and plays with how everyday, mass-produced items can be tessellated. The pieces also make a statement about sustainability and the reuse of waste.
Unlike much mathematical art, which is often purely abstract and quite cold, I use recognisable household objects to make work that is accessible, real and fun. I hope by extension to make maths and geometry similarly accessible to a lay audience.
The largest of my Spheres to date is To Live, a 2.4 metre diameter geodesic shelter made from estate agent 'to let' boards. I've also made a smaller version, entitled To Play, as a playhouse for children. I'm developing a larger one as an inhabitable shelter.
I've been inspired by Magnus Wenninger, Stewart Coffin, Buckminster Fuller and George Hart. Artistically, I draw inspiration from land artists Andy Goldsworthy, Richard Long and Jan Dibbets.
Sphere of 120 British Rail train tickets slotted together and held in place by their own tension.
The structure is adapted from the IQ Light system by Holger Strøm. The basis for each module in this system is the rhombic face of a triacontahedron, scaled more in one direction to cause distortion and thus increase constructive tension. Whereas the IQ Light embellishes this with a pretty curved surrounding shape, my train ticket sphere takes things back to basics – just a train ticket with four slits cut by hand!
You can see more of my Spheres project at http://flickr.com/nicksayers/sets/72157609022531531/detail
Sphere of 60 plastic Coke bottles, slotted and held together without glue by 180 hand-cut elliptical locking slots. The piece is intended to be lit from within as a pendant lampshade.
The tops of the bottles form the vertices of a truncated icosahedron. The interlocking slots are cut along the line of intersection between each pair of cylinders, with a zigzag cut to lock the pieces together.
You can see more of my Spheres project at http://flickr.com/nicksayers/sets/72157609022531531/detail
I developed this as a low-cost alternative to a crystal glass chandelier. It's made from 60 bicycle wheel reflectors sourced from a local bike shop. The parts were drilled and joined together with 120 clear nylon cable ties.
The reflectors, and the holes between them, respectively form the faces and edges of a distorted rhombicosidodecahedron.
You can see more of my Spheres project at http://flickr.com/nicksayers/sets/72157609022531531/detail