Riemondrian

Christopher Hanusa and Uyen Nguyen

Riemondrian

Bernhard Riemann (German, 1826–1866) is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, contributing to the fields of number theory, analysis, and differential geometry. Perhaps his most widely known technique is that of Riemann sums, a method of approximating the area under a curve using rectangles. Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872–1944) was a cofounder the De Stijl art movement, which promoted abstraction by limiting works to the essentials of form and color. Mondrian is well known for his paintings limited to three primary colors (red, yellow, blue), three primary values (black, white, gray), and two primary directions (horizontal, vertical). Riemondrian is a jewelry collection that reimagines the concept of Riemann sums through the lens of Mondrian’s style of work. Each piece is laser cut and hand assembled from lucite in our Manhattan atelier. The Riemondrian Jewelry Collection is a collaboration between designers Christopher Hanusa and Uyen Nguyen. Christopher Hanusa is a mathematical artist living in New York City. He is the owner and creator of Hanusa Design, featuring unique jewelry inspired by mathematics. Uyen Nguyen is an NYC-based origami artist, designer, and curator with a background in mechanical engineering. The two met at Bridges last year and started collaborating when Uyen saw the “Riemondrian” print by Chris and reached out to him to translate the work into a form of wearable art, thus resulting in The Riemondrian Collection.

Photo: Uyen Nguyen Model: Elizabeth Kilson

Necklace

lucite pendant, waxed cotton cord, metal clasp

2018

The design for each item in the Riemondrian collection was generated using Mathematica. The curve is a spline based on a random set of control points. The upper and lower Riemann sums for the curve are generated for randomly chosen subintervals. Additional rectangles are placed randomly, and the work is colorized in the style of Mondrian paintings to complete the effect.