The idea for emergence began as a simple question: How can we bring the creative community together in a way that feels both intentional and aligned to our ethos of being part studio, part thought experiment?
The usage of plates felt like a natural medium for us so we organized Type Smash, an event where we invited our community to bring a plate to smash with us. The act was simple, but personal. Every shard carries its own memory, force, intention, and release. For us this was the perfect way to mark the beginning of our practice.
Each person was asked to select a single letter from the word ‘Plates’ and use the shards to construct it. We documented each expression, gathering a large and varied library of fragments, each one a trace of a shared moment, and shaped by a different hand. From those first letters, we created a limited-run typographic T-shirt that we later gave away at our launch party, with the intention of eventually developing a full experimental typeface.
As the year came to a close, we wanted to create something that reflected both community and individuality, and that felt right for the season without leaning on familiar tropes. Often treated as a cliché, the form of the snowflake felt like a fitting starting point. Both mathematical and infinitely random. No two are the same, yet all belong to the same system.
In emergence, the idea of individuality exists on multiple levels. Each shard was created by someone in our community. Some carry personal meaning, a memory, or sentiment (that we may never fully know). From 26 variations of those shards, we built a generative system capable of producing virtually infinite possibilities. The snowflake before you is unlikely to ever appear again so be sure to download it before it passes.
Using p5.js, the system assembles snowflakes in real time from the original shard images. Shards are colorized, given edge detection, positioned within defined boundaries, and animated using simple offset sinusoidal oscillation (on desktop only due to performance limitations). From a single generated “arm,” the system creates radial copies, producing between four and nine repetitions before simply rotating the entire js canvas. The resultant form feels both ordered and alive, creating a simple composition that embraces randomness and chance.
The audio (desktop only) for emergence was designed as a generative system, built using Tone.js, that complements the core concept of the experiment. Notes are drawn from a limited scale (C Natural Minor-ish), while timing and dynamics shift subtly over time. Effects like delay and reverb are treated as part of the structure, letting sounds overlap and dissolve naturally, creating an environment that stochastically drifts and reshapes as time passes.
While this experiment was built with the help of contemporary tools, including AI-assisted coding, the outcome relies on intention, iteration, and restraint. Randomness alone is not enough.
Structure matters.
Constraints matter.
Care matters.
emergence is neither about novelty or perfection. It is about how things come together. About how individual actions can accumulate into something larger than themselves. We hope you’ll spend a little time with it and see what emerges for you.
If you’d like to get in touch, please reach us at hello@plates.studio.
