Crochet of the Sea

While coral reefs are dying out undersea, twin sisters Christine and Margaret Wertheim, ⁴⁸, of Los Angeles, are leading a crusade to crochet lifelike coral reefs across America. Their intricately naturalistic yarn reefs draw attention to the threat of climate change, while winning the attention of art galleries.

Photograph courtesy of the Institute For Figuring

“They are such fascinating creations,” says Christine, who teaches literature and art. But it was a love of math that inspired the reefs.

Co-founders of the Institute For Figuring, dedicated to celebrating the poetic beauty in science, the sisters picked up crochet hooks after studying the aesthetics of hyperbolic geometry.

“We had crocheted some hyperbolic planes which were curled up on a coffee table, when we said, ‘That looks like a coral reef — let’s make one,’” says Christine. “Two years later, it’s taken thousands of dollars and miles of yarn, and we’re awash in reefs.”

The sisters have crocheted brain, pillar, rubble, and fire corals, forming fluffy ecosystems now teeming with crocheted anemones, jellyfish, nudibranchs, sea slugs, and flatworms — all crafted by

applying mathematical algorithms to crochet patterns, increasing stitches with every row.

“Is it art, science, math, or natural history?” asks Margaret, a science writer. “It’s all of those things.” Each hooked loop is a voyage of discovery. “We are constantly surprised that we set out to make one thing and it turns out quite another. It’s evolutionary.”

The Wertheims and their collaborators have crafted reefs now exhibiting across America and in Europe: naturalistic reefs in muted tones, others blazing with electric color, and impressionistic reefs that could have lain hidden beneath Monet’s water lilies. Their efforts have also spawned new crochet reef projects in Chicago, New York, and London.

“We’d love to inspire every city to create a reef of their own,” says Margaret. “There are times when we feel this is taking over our lives. We’ve become slaves to the reef, like The Little Shop of Horrors. Coral has taken over our kitchen, living room, and dining room. Fortunately, we love it.” —Peter Sheridan