Build Your Own Bismuth Crystals With Nervous System’s Miniature Geometric Puzzles

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  • Nov 29.

All images © Nervous System

Among the Earth’s metallic elements, bismuth is one of the most beguiling. Rarely encountered in nature, it can be synthesized for a wide variety of uses in medicine, cosmetics, and casting for things like printing type. When the material forms into hopper crystals—a stair-stepped pattern with a loosely conical shape—the oxide film on its surface interacts with light to produce astonishing iridescent colors. These patterns provide the basis of the latest miniature geometric puzzles by Nervous System (previously).

Each plywood jigsaw is about nine square inches and contains 157 pieces, which are cut in a matrix to mirror bismuth’s crystalline network. And like most of the studio’s designs, each puzzle contains a playful whimsy piece. Get yours from Nervous System.

 

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