craftzine.com/06/hanna

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CRAFTER

B Y NATALIE ZEE DRIEU

Biophysicist and jewelry designer Raven Hanna brings
a scientific twist to crafts.

When it comes to science, San Francisco-based Raven Hanna knows what she’s talking about. With a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics from Yale and post-doctorate work at U.C. Berkeley, the always-creative Hanna realized she didn’t want to follow the typical scientist’s path. After all, she used to make stuffed bacteria in grad school.

While researching neurotransmitters, Hanna found her jewelry calling. The serotonin molecule in a textbook illustration caught her eye and she wanted a necklace to represent it. After searching online, she realized they weren’t sold anywhere, so she decided to make one herself.

The problem was, Hanna didn’t actually know how to make jewelry. But thanks to the internet, she found a jewelry teacher on Craigslist to help her. “I showed him a drawing of the molecule attached to the chains and said, ‘Teach me how to make this!’” she laughs.

In no time, Hanna’s crafty hobby of making molecule jewelry became her number one passion and took most of her free time. When wearing her jewelry around town, she noticed that people who weren’t scientists were intrigued by it. “What I was looking for, this ‘visual science communication,’ is right here in this hobby, and that’s when I decided it would be neat to get it out there,” she says.

Through the encouragement of friends, she made her hobby into a business, and Made with Molecules ( madewithmolecules.com) was born. “Made with

Molecules is like ‘made with love’ but always accurate! Scientifically accurate!” exclaims Hanna.

From the stunning endorphin necklace to the delicate chocolate theobromine earrings, Hanna’s jewelry is unique in the sense that she can showcase the beauty of it all first, letting the science sink in visually. “If the molecule isn’t aesthetic, I’m not going to do it,” Hanna explains.

To create her pieces, Hanna first finds a beautiful molecule and strips the design down to the basics so that it’s graphically appealing. The finished CAD file is then sent to someone who prints it on a 3D laser printer in resin. Finally, the resin pieces are cast in silver and Hanna solders them together.

It wasn’t long before CERN, the world’s largest particle physics lab in Geneva, Switzerland, started knocking on her door. For two months in the spring of 2006, Hanna worked at CERN, along with their particle physicists, to make designs of subatomic particles. “It was the best job ever! Where do I go from here?” jokes Hanna. Inspired by the experience, today Hanna looks to diversify her work by exploring more in the particle physics realm, as well as going “bigger,” into neurons and cells.

“Scientists devote their lives to what they study,” explains Hanna. “They want some sort of beautiful thing to represent that to the world.” Thanks to Raven Hanna, now they’ve got it. ×

 

Natalie Zee Drieu is senior editor of CRAF T and writes for the CRAFT blog at craftzine.com.

Photograph by Gabriela Hasbun