Theory and Applications of Islamic Star Patterns

Year: 2002 Authors: Craig S. Kaplan

Core claim

Islamic star patterns can be newly generated, adapted to non-Euclidean geometry, and realized as artifacts using computer-aided manufacturing.

Topics

Islamic star patterns, ornamental design, non-Euclidean geometry, computer-aided manufacturing

Domains

geometry, non-Euclidean geometry, computational mathematics, Islamic ornament, pattern design, computer-aided fabrication

Methods

pattern generation, geometric adaptation, computer-aided manufacturing, examples

Media

virtual star patterns, real-world artifacts

Paper text

The text below is the locally extracted OCR/Markdown version of the paper. Raw PDF files remain local and are not published here.

BRIDGES Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science

Theory and Applications of Islamic Star Patterns

Craig S. Kaplan Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington Box 352350, Seattle, WA 98195-2350 USA csk@cs.washington.edu

Abstract

The tradition of Islamic star patterns has brought us some of history’s greatest and most elegant examples of ornamental design. Over the centuries, the creation of new patterns and the execution of existing ones has declined. Today, armed with the tools of modern mathematics and computer science, we have the opportunity to revitalize this style of ornamentation, and to explore the world of Islamic star patterns simply and fruitfully.

I present some of my recent work in the generation of Islamic star patterns, specifically in how they may be adapted to non-Euclidean geometry. I also show examples of how various computer-aided manufacturing processes may be used to realize these virtual star patterns as real-world artifacts.