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Symmetry: Culture and Science
Volume 32, Number 1, pages 091-102 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.26830/symmetry_2021_1_091

SYMMETRIES OF AN ONLINE CULTURE: TWO-COLOUR FRIEZE PATTERNS IN FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS

Kathryn Beck1, Lorelei Koss2*

1 Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware, 501 Ewing Hall Newark, DE 19716, U.S.A.
E-mail: kbeck@udel.edu
2 Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773, Carlisle, PA 17013, U.S.A.
E-mail: koss@dickinson.edu
* corresponding author

Abstract: The mathematical study of frieze symmetry in art is well established; to date, scholarship has focused primarily on historical artefacts or traditional crafts. Here, we apply established tools to an emerging craft of a global online community. This paper studies frieze symmetry patterns in friendship bracelet designs found in the online database Braceletbook. Artists who contribute bracelet designs form a global community, with people from all six inhabited continents submitting patterns and over 140,000 registered users. We study which of the 24 two-colour frieze patterns can be realized in a friendship bracelet design and investigate the symmetry preferences of this community.

Keywords: frieze symmetries, fiber arts, visual arts, ethnomathematics.MSC 2020: 00A66, 01A07

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