Girih Tiles for Interactive Islamic Designs

3D print and assemble your own classic Islamic-style artwork by using Girih tiles to build intricate woven strapwork! The tiling pattern in the photo is rotationally symmetric. On the left are the basic colorful tile shapes. Towards the middle we have started to add the overlaid strapwork, which is completely determined by the tiles. On the right, we added gray mosaic tiles to obscure the original tiles and reveal the strapwork pattern. Girih tiles are used in Islamic art and architecture to create intricate woven strapwork patterns. The underlying periodic patterns that create these designs are related to Penrose tilings and predate the formal mathematical discoveries of such tilings by at least 500 years. 

Photo by Guy Sie

To make the most interactive model we printed the tiles, strapwork, and mosaic pieces separately and in different colors, so that Girih patterns could be assembled using the three steps outlined below.How to make Girih patternsYou can create your own Girih designs with 3D-printable tiles, strapwork lines, and mosaic pieces, in three steps.

Step 1: Make a tesselating pattern with the five basic tile shapes - pentagons, decagons, rhombi, bowties, and irregular hexagons. 

Step 2: Each tile determines a strapwork pattern that passes through the midpoints of its edges. These strapwork patterns match up across all the tiles to make a woven design. Step 3: Cover up the original tiling by placing mosaic pieces between the strapwork lines to reveal a beautiful Girih design. 

=====

Twitter:  twitter.com/mathgrrl

Hacktastic blog:  www.mathgrrl.com/hacktastic

Shapeways geekhaus store:  www.shapeways.com/shops/mathgr... 

This design and all associated pictures and files are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. If you want to use designs, images, or files outside of the terms of this license, please email [email protected].