Rashmi Sunder-Raj

Biography

When I was young, I learned to sew, knit, and crochet. Later, I adapted these skills to make lace to match fabric using thread and sequins. On the math side, a few years ago I realized that I could construct geometric shapes that fit together in a “nice” way to form rotationally-symmetric patterns (for details see the 2023 Bridges paper “Physical Representations of Polygon, Wedge, and Arc Squiggles”). Specifically, when constructing things that I called “linear squiggles”, I found that I could anticipate the angles of the triangle bounding them, and thus use them to form pleasing images by using reflections and rotations. I also set out to use my crafting skills to find ways to create physical models of these squiggles. The ways that I have found include thread crochet, tatting, knitting, and paper-folding. I have incorporated instances of these in clothing, jewelry, and even fed pictures of them back to create digital art in my “Manipulation” series.

Looks

About the look

Shawl

Fabric

2025

I created the digital image used for this shawl a few years ago. It was based on rotated and reflected copies of a 1,2,3,…,18 squiggle using an angle of 20° (for further details, please refer to the paper mentioned in my bio). I recently had a portion of this image printed as a blanket which I then used to make this shawl.

Pin

Thead, sequins and wire

2025

This pin is intended to hold the sides of the shawl together. It is a crocheted squiggle, but a bit different from those used in the shawl and earrings.

Earrings

Thread, sequins and wire

2025

These earrings were designed to approximate a mirrored pair of squiggles matching the type used in the shawl. They were made by crocheting along lengths of black pre-strung sequins in such a way that the line of sequins would curve from side to side. Flexible wire was attached to the sequins to make the curves smooth, and formable wire was crocheted in to form a stiff border.