Christopher Hanusa

Biography

Hanusa Design turns mathematical concepts into wearable pieces of art. Our unique products feature striking designs inspired by the beauty and precision of mathematics. We use computational software to generate the underlying structure of each piece and then harness the power of 3D printing technology to bring the jewelry to life. Our mathematical jewelry is informed by concepts and cutting edge research in mathematics. Our pieces conceptualize geometric forms, fractals, tessellations, architecture, and mathematics appearing out in the world. The concepts are translated into their mathematical essence and are digitally rendered in Wolfram Mathematica before being 3D printed, assembled, and packaged. Hanusa Design jewelry is sold in a variety of museum gift shops, art galleries, and stores, including the National Museum of Mathematics in New York, NY, the Queens Museum in Queens, NY, Gallery North in Setauket, NY, and the Wolfram Store in Champaign, IL. The whole collection of jewelry is available at hanusadesign.com. Hanusa Design was started in 2017 by Christopher Hanusa, a professor of mathematics at Queens College of the City University of New York. His research is in algebraic and enumerative combinatorics and he is an internationally exhibited mathematical artist.

Looks

About the look

Chessboard Necklace

White- and Black-Rhodium Plated Brass

2025

The Chessboard Necklace is made up of two layers. The bottom layer (in white rhodium plated brass) is a comprised of squares that form a shape reminiscent of a crescent moon. The top layer (in black rhodium plated brass) overlays a path that zigzags between the centers of the squares. On a chessboard, a knight moves diagonally along a path shaped like an L. A knight's tour is a walk visiting every step of a chessboard using knight's moves. This is possible on an 8x8 chessboard, and on the modified chessboard of this necklace. There are not as many possible knight's tours of this modified chessboard; an asymmetrical one was chosen to capture the viewer's interest. The pendant is 4.4” (11.2cm) wide. The contrast between the white and black rhodium evokes the coloring of a classic chessboard. The pendant is created through a lost-wax casting process, with molten brass replacing a high-resolution 3D printed wax model, white and black rhodium plating applied, and completed with a sterling silver chain.

Knight's tour cube earrings

White- and Black-Rhodium Plated Brass

2018

This pair of earrings gives two different examples of a three-dimensional knight's tour - on a 3x3x3 chessboard. On a chessboard, a knight moves diagonally along a path shaped like an L. These earrings take knight moves into the third dimension where pieces move two units in one direction and one unit in an orthogonal direction. A knight's tour is a walk visiting every step of a chessboard using knight's moves. This is possible on an 8x8 chessboard. On a 3x3x3 cubic chessboard, no knight's move from an external space can arrive at the central space. Furthermore, a parity argument shows that no knight's tour exists on the remaining 26 spaces. However a knight's tour is possible when the domain is restricted to 24 spaces. These earrings show two of those possibilities. Each earring is a cube and measures 1.1 in (28mm) diagonally. The white and black rhodium on this mismatched pair evokes the coloring of a classic chessboard. These earrings are created through a lost-wax casting process, with molten brass replacing a high-resolution 3D printed wax model, white and black rhodium plating applied, and finished with sterling silver earwire.