Contemporary geometric beaded jewellery

Abstract

I am a physician and bead artist living and working in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. Mathematics and Science were my favourite subjects at school, and I knew early on that I wanted to study Medicine. In my spare time, I was always reading or making things. My mum taught us not only how to knit and sew, but also to value craftmanship. In 2004, I discovered off-loom beadweaving using a needle, thread and glass seed beads. Adding tiny glass beads one at a time is meditative and has been described as ‘painting in pixels’. When I am beading, I constantly ask ‘What if’ questions . . . Change the bead? Change the colour? Add something here or there? I love creating wearable geometric art. My work is inspired by the colours and patterns of nature, as well as by fine art and sculpture. As a core member of the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork (CGB) Research Team led by Kate McKinnon (USA), I have participated in discovery sessions with the team and undertook the technical illustrations for the books the team has published. Some of my designswere published inContemporaryGeometric BeadworkVolume II (2014) and in 2019 my beaded jewellery and fashion was shown at the mathematical arts conference Bridges, in Linz, Austria. Designing and beading geometric shapes involve mathematics, both in the planning stages and in the making. Writing patterns involve further calculations, especially when planning for a range of sizes. CGB designs are worked in peyote stitch, using precise Japanese cylinder beads, and much of the work is 3-dimensional. Some work is sewn in one piece, and some (like Kaleidocycles) require complex assembly. As one of the illustrators for the CGB Project, I study the already beaded shapes and 3-D structures and then draw step-by-step diagrams to allow beaders of different skill levels to bead our designs. In peyote stitch, the thread passes through each row of beads twice. One of the resultant characteristics which makes this stitch ideal for our work is the ability to remove a single thread to split our beadwork into separate sections with no loss of structural integrity. These ‘deconstructed’ sections can be crafted with known fit and dimension and used as templates for starting new work.