Connecting Lines to Make Space.

I invented this shape in 2011.

In the metal shop, I cut 4 inch lenths of 1/4” steel wire.

I welded those short sticks into a hexagon shape.

I made 3 hexagons, and then I stood them up and leaned them on each other.

I thought it might be a good shape for a pendant light frame - that’s the scale I was working on.

That’s how it started.

I cut some sticks, welded them together, looked at them, and then had a conscious thought: I wonder what this would look like bigger?

So I decided to make it bigger.

I had a mentor at the time who told me I could draw it up on the computer to get a sense of the scale. He didn’t use those exact words - but that is an odd phrase that I want to pick apart.

Yes, you can see a visual representation of what the scale might look like on a 2D interface - but “sensing the scale” is something that can only happen at scale.

I spent 30 minutes on the computer before I called it quits, walked into the wood shop and metal shop and just made the thing.

That was the last time I made a serious attempt at trying to draw something on the computer - Fall 2011.

Rather than spending hours drawing a thing to look at, I just went out and made it.

1 1/2” square tubing. 2”x2” stakes.

A miter saw, some quick welding and sanding, and I had the form up!

Looking through my files for these photos I typed in “tetrahedron” or “truncated” or “truncated tetrahedron” or “tetra” - and I couldn’t find it.

The reason is because I did not know this shape was called a Truncated Tetrahedron until Jonathan Nesci commented that on Instagram an entire year later when I made a new version of it.

Because i thought I invented a shape.

I thought I invented a new form.

If I knew the name of the form I would have just typed it into a search bar and looked at all the precedents.

And there are plenty. I had no idea.

I think the reason I didn’t “know” is because I approached the shape from connecting lines, rather than connecting planes.

I was not a planar thinker at the time - I was still in my LINES phase of development.

Everything was lines. I’m in a different phase now.

This morning I thought how different it would have been if I drew it in the computer - if it was a little tiny widget form that I could move around with a flick of my finer. Scale up, scale down.

Duplicate 100 times. Group together new forms.

The tools we use to explore our forms will inform our forms.

What prompted my memory of this form today was a post on my Instagram memories:

Dec 7 2012 Version of the form with round tubing, and wood closet rods.

I still have these brackets!

And next week I’m going to set up something very similar to this at the Ojai Rancho Inn for Deck The Halls!

Inventing Shapes That Already Exist