Maths Craft New Zealand’s first regional event was held on Sunday 26th May 2019 in the Town Hall in the Waihinga Centre in Martinborough. Over 450 visitors – in a town of 1,700 people – explored maths through crafts at our free day-long event, which featured seven craft creation stations along with public lectures given by mathematicians, including best-selling author, mathematician, and pianist Eugenia Cheng. Our hands-on craft stations were staffed by a trained team of volunteers drawn from around the region, including school teachers, educators, university students and staff (from both Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Canterbury), along with a pool of experienced volunteers from other Maths Craft New Zealand events. These volunteers guided our visitors through the maths and the craft at the craft stations: Möbius strips, mathematical colouring and drawing, knitted knots, Menger cubes, origami, flexagons, and string art.
Our helpful volunteers engaging with the public at the craft stations.
Visitors sitting in the craft area, working on their own creations.
We opened the doors at 10am and welcomed a steady stream of visitors in to the newly-renovated Town Hall until we closed at 5pm. We were delighted with the number of visitors, and pleased that people came from near and far to fill the Town Hall with a buzz of excitement all day long. As well as Martinborough residents, visitors travelled from other small towns across the region, drove over the Remutaka hills from Wellington, and across the country from places as far away as Palmerston North, a two hour drive. The Waihinga Centre venue suited Maths Craft perfectly, with lots of natural light in the main Town Hall space, a café in the adjacent Library space, a playground outside, and the beautiful town of Martinborough on the doorstep. All of these aspects came together to create an exciting but relaxed atmosphere in which our visitors could enjoy the craft stations and the attention of our enthusiastic volunteers. We also had eight crafting tables on the stage in the Town Hall so that visitors could sit and work together on their chosen craft with our friendly volunteers on hand to help at all times. As is always the case at our events, we were gratified to see people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds working together.
The Martinborough Maths Craft Day in full swing in the Town Hall in the Waihinga Centre.
Three free public talks were held in the Supper Room beside the Town Hall in the Waihinga Centre. We were thrilled and honoured to welcome our special guest speaker Dr Eugenia Cheng (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), whose talk “Beyond Infinity” was attended by over 100 people – a record for Maths Craft! Dr Cheng is on a mission to rid the world of ‘math phobia’. Her award-winning popular maths books include How to Bake Pi and her latest The Art of Logic: how to make sense in a world that doesn’t. We were also delighted to welcome back as speakers Prof Hinke Osinga and Prof Bernd Krauskopf, who have given many popular talks at Maths Craft events. Prof Osinga, an applied mathematician from the University of Auckland and the first female professor of mathematics to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, spoke on “Chaos, Kayaking and Crochet”. Prof Krauskopf, also an applied mathematician from the University of Auckland, gave a riveting talk entitled “From Maths to Art and Chaos to Steel”.
Eugenia Cheng has her audience enthralled with her talk “Beyond Infinity”.
We couldn’t be happier with Maths Craft’s first regional event, and the response from local organisations and businesses was one of overwhelming gratitude and delight. The Mayor of South Wairarapa, The Honourable Viv Napier, was thrilled when she thanked us in person on the day, and later on Facebook wrote “It was great. Interesting and challenging maths craft. Loved the craft on display. Please come back.” Local businesses reported being busy at levels usually seen only in peak season, and every local we spoke to was excited and grateful to see an event like this in the regions – for many, it was their first time at a STEM event. We thank all of the sponsors of the 2019 Martinborough Maths Craft Day, and look forward to our future regional events with excitement.
The three guest speakers at Martinborough Maths Craft Day:
