What is there to learn about Tangram?

LETTER no.85 Friday, March 25, 2016 on iversity / on design 1o1 redux website Part 3 - My World / Week 04 - My Nature Greetings from Guangzhou, China, Fact or (science) fiction. It’s sometimes hard to distinguish the two… A 3D printer. What a great idea! Now inside a totally white landscape, printing shapes and silhouettes and playing Tangram. 7 pieces to generate a world of characters!

Question of the day: What is there to learn about Tangram? Do you know about the open-ended generative puzzle game called Tangram? In chinese, this puzzle is called ch’i ch’iao t’u, that translates as “ingenious-puzzle figure of seven pieces.” Indeed, through the piecing together of its seven geometric shapes, the player(s) can give life to an infinite number of very simple, but lively silhouettes. There are many tales concerning the origin of western name for the game. One of them is that while trading with China, Western sailors were introduced to the game and named it “tangram,” an obsolete English word meaning puzzle or trinket. Or, perhaps, the name comes from tá ng (the Chinese dynasty) and gram, Greek for ‘writing’. Or tá ng tú, tú meaning a picture or diagram.

The whole... Its pieces... This game is not as easy as it appears. An excellent exercise in spatial coordination! The purpose (of the game) is to recognize a given silhouette, then its whole, and to assemble it using its composing parts. These are the simple rules to recreating the outlines: 1. You must use all seven pieces. 2. They all must touch. 3. They must not overlap. In one set of tangram, there are 2 large right triangles, 1 medium right triangle, 2 small right triangle, 1 square, and 1 parallelogram. Ready, set, play! As you see, it’s a game of endless possibilities. We suppose this is the reason why Lewis Carroll was said to be such a great fan. Here, the puzzle as a real 3D object: a modular table composed of seven smaller tables by Italian designer Massimo Morozzi. :-)

What will I do today? Today, as you did in the past three days, you will keep on walking / hiking / travelling into your chosen natural landscape and meet someone (or something). Then, you will also “arrive somewhere”. You will document this meeting (and this “somewhere”) and share the whole story with us using 3 images. Once you have your 3 images ready, share them on Instagram using the hashtags: #SevenPieces and #Design1o1Redux. Then, share a nice (and meaningful) caption to accompany your images and hashtags.

What will I learn doing this? To choose a time and place in which to stop. To know when and where to stop. To think about “how” to stop.

Why do we do this? Because the place in which you stop today is the one in which you will start building your shelter on Monday. :-)

Something to remember: You need to choose when and where to stop. Further inspiration Today, you can print out basically anything... From tangram pieces to houses to chocolate, bikinis, shoes, christmas decorations... And even guns... :o Have you ever heard of Ms. Neri Oxman? In the world of 3D printing, she is a very dear and special superhero of ours. You could check out this video to get an overall idea of the things she does (with many other cool people). Ms. Neri also collaborates with the amazing fashion designer Iris Van Herpen. Check this out as well. Very cool stuff, don’t you think? Then, some nice links for you to play with... i.materialize: To turn your ideas into 3D printed reality

(+ share / sell your designs with the i.materialise community). Shapeways: very similar to i.materialise... The machine that builds itself (the super “RepRap” self-replicating rapid prototyper). A 3d print of yourself! One last quote? “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Sir Arthur Charles Clarke And here and now we stop. Have a nice weekend!

Today’s Postcard References 3D printed people

The super RepRap that builds itself!

3D printer

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