MATHS AS THE SECRET TO BEAUTY | INTRODUCTION

On the 8^th of September 2026 Open AI announced it had solved the Navier-Stokes Millenium Prize problem. Solving this mathematical problem opens up a world of possibilities for the future of humanity, creating potential for the development of everything from clean energy and artificial heart-valve technologies to advancements in aviation and weather forecasting, to name a few.

This served as a reminder to me as to how holy mathematics is. It is arguably the DNA of everything known to man. The more we unlock mathematics the more we unlock the world. Regarding the area which is sacred to me personally: art and design – this is no exception. Maths means structure, it means patterns and all art has some kind of structure or pattern. And if one thinks of art more widely, beyond the visual arts the same is true of course for music.

So simultaneously, to this current, explosive progress taking place in the field of mathematics as a result of exponentially developing AI, I reflected on my favourite periods in art history and came to realise that mathematics can be seen as the common denominator of them all. The periods and movements in art history that resonate with me the most had mathematical thinking at their core, and I was able to research this in depth much more easily than ever before because of AI. Another common denominator between my most beloved periods is that they were design focused times, in that these were mostly eras where art and design greatly overlapped, in that a singular design mind-set was used uniformly when creating everything from art, to architecture, to furniture, to jewellery, to every day useable objects.

Namely, these are Greek Antiquity, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. However I also want to look at the mathematics behind Haussmann architecture, Deconstructivism and Op Art. Hence over the next series of blogs I will dig into the mathematical thinking at the heart of each period or movement so that I can understand them in more depth and perhaps uncover to what extent maths really is the secret to beauty. And if so, should one design mathematically instinctively or consciously? And how far should a designer take this approach? And if we as designers deepen our mathematical understanding does that mean even if we design mathematically instinctively, do those instincts develop?

Attic Geometric Vases displayed at the National Archaeological Museum [Athenian, 8th century BC]