Sixaxis, Gill Sans & Garamond, and 47.2 Degrees explore the intersection of typography and sculpture and the translation between two and three dimensions. In an effort to bring letterforms into the third dimension, I have rotated lowercase letters by 360 degrees around their natural vertical axes. This translation turns letters into objects in the real world – they now have a weight, texture, smell, taste, and even sound.

Sixaxis is a word-sculpture. Just as letters are the building blocks to words, these new objects are the building blocks of sculpture. Looking closely, one can see what the sculpture spells.

The letter-objects in both Sixaxis and Gill Sans & Garamond are created using a layering technique that echoes the translation from two to three dimensions. The rotated three-dimensional CAD forms are sliced into two-dimensional layers, which then return to three dimensions by stacking - extrusion rather than rotation.

The form of the sculpture is a sixaxis, referencing the geometric symbolism of dimensions. Rather than stopping at just three axes, though, the mirrored six represent the symmetrical nature of both the three-dimensional letters and the word they spell.

Gill Sans & Garamond is a typographic experiment. Each line shows a row of three ‘a’ letterforms in different typefaces; Garamond on the left, Gill Sans on the right.

The letters are repeated and rotated to allow the viewer to inspect all sides and observe how three dimensions can enhance her understanding of certain typeface. For instance, the tail of the Garamond ‘a’ is much more pronounced.

47.2 Degrees is concerned with the layering technique used to translate from two to three dimensions. While the layers in the previous two pieces are made of concentric circles around the axis of original rotation, this piece shows how layering at different angles can create a different-looking form.