Experimental Artist Creates Algorithmn Based 3D Printed Jewelry Collection, RITHMS

The artist

While we write about many amazing, very serious innovations offered by some of the greatest minds involved in research and development combined with 3D printing today, sometimes it’s just great to wander over to the wild and creative side, and see what the artists are doing as well.

The need to express themselves in art is nearly as important as breathing for many designers, and 3D printing has made that easier, as well as opening up an infinite new world of inspiration–combined with independence and affordability in manufacturing.

Recently, we explored the 3D printed jewelry of a new artist on the scene who is definitely making an obvious statement with the third dimension. This is about as obvious as one could get, actually, adorning models with cubes of all sizes to make his point ‘RITHMS,’ which is a jewelry project a bit more based on science and math than many of us may be used to.

“Born from the idea of generative life, RITHMS was created as an exploration into the realm of algorithm-based replication,” says David Reese, the artist, on his website. “Known by most computer scientists as ‘cellular automata,’ a series of rules are established and forms of `life’ are placed onto a grid; they are then left to grow according to said rules. With help from mathematician Richard Southwell and his algorithms, I was able to take these forms of `life’ off of the two-dimensional digital grid and into a three-dimensional object that can be worn by anyone.”

While his pieces definitely put the ‘chunk’ into chunky jewelry, they have a classic–yet inimitable–beauty to them. Sarasota’s David Reese is currently a graphic designer at the Ringling College of Art & Design, and is driven by a self-professed love for experimentation, which he hopes leads to a long career in art. Perhaps his summer internship at NASA drove some of his ideas for making the RITHMS project, however.

Reese specifically came upon the idea for the project while simultaneously taking a course in experimental art and worrying about his mother’s upcoming birthday. Like any good creative son–he wanted to make something for her. Engaged in learning about self-generative art, he decided to make something based on that. He also decided to tackle something he’d never tried before: 3D printing.

“I also had a vague understanding of something called ‘The Game of Life’ which is a basic representation of rules involving single celled ‘organisms’ on a digital grid,” Reese told 3DPrint.com. “It was also my mother’s birthday soon, so I wanted to possibly make jewelry out of these things. I also had never used a 3D printer before.”

Drawing from the work of mathematician Richard Southwell who wrote a program using the software Wolfram Mathematica, which helped transform Reese’s 2D forms into 3D, he was able make use of the MakerBot 3D printer at Ringling to fabricate his jewelry, made solely for his mother and of course, his class project. He discussed his favorite pieces, as well as telling 3DPrint.com that he may be open to making some more 3D printed jewelry soon.

“I was always in love with the earrings,” said Reese. “I think this is because I just found it so interesting that a little form of life was sitting on your ear… if it could only whisper little motivations or thoughts to you all day–that would be amazing.”

With a mission to use his art in seeking out both the future and the truth, he seems well on the way to tying in complex concepts with his art. We look forward to seeing what comes next from this art student, and hopefully we won’t have to wait until his mom’s next birthday rolls around…

Discuss this story in the RITHMS forum thread on 3DPB.com.