This is our first holiday season as Performance Art.

We wanted to make something special to celebrate.

Something unique.
Like us. Like you.

And like snowflakes.

Like all good projects, we started with a little reading.

About how snowflakes form around dust particles. Why they follow a hexagonal structure, and how the geometry is governed by the precise angle that two hydrogen nuclei form with each other. About how tiny changes in humidity and temperature ensure that every snowflake really is unique.

This guy Wilson Bentley was the first guy to take detailed photos of snowflakes, catching them on black velvet and capturing their image before they melted. Which is unquestionably a beautiful thing to do, and earned him the nickname Snowflake Bentley. He probably had other nicknames too, but artists catch a lot of shit before people wake up and give them a little respect!

Anyway, if you ever have a question about snowflakes, give us a call.

Then we set out to build a snowflake design making machine. Using the Core Graphics framework gave us the perfect lightweight 2D graphics drawing engine.

Then a lot of math followed about 6 point symmetry, the mimicry of natural processes around how arms and branches form, and how the spacing and angles of all the elements would work to achieve our generative snowflake design.

We then replaced the generic shapes with ones from our logo, writing specific rules to ensure we were maintaining elegant designs and keeping the PA shapes recognizable.

At the same time, our designers were creating beautiful patterns for the wrapping paper and cards. We planned to replace every snowflake with one generated by our tool.

Combining the human touch of craftsmanship and design with the exciting possibilities revealed by technology. Neither could achieve what we wanted on their own.

The patterns were recreated through code, each unique snowflake created by the drawing tool. Thousands of pages of unique wrapping paper and card designs were generated.

(Not only is every snowflake on the page unique, but every page is unique as well.)

Needless to say, we had very patient printers.
(thank you Italic Press!)

Creativity and technology making a little holiday magic.

We hope you make a little magic of your own this season.

Very Happy Holidays from your friends at Performance Art.