Tetragons
Tetragons is a construction toy inspired by Platonic solids: symmetric three dimensional shapes with all sides equal. Surprisingly, there is a very little number of such shapes: cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron and dodecahedron.
And it turns out that many of these can be assembled only from tetrahedrons and octahedrons!
Our construction toy allows you to connect all these basic shapes along the edges with a special connector element. It works by having two sides that are squishy but have protrusions that can hold it in place.
Gallery
How it works
We offer 4 basic shapes, two three dimensional and two flat ones.
TODO: insert pictures of each basic shape
In three dimensions, we have tetrahedrons and octahedrons: symmetric shapes whose all sides are regular triangles, first having 4 sides: one triangle as a base, and 3 more triangles for each side of the base.
Another piece is an octahedron: think about taking a square and attaching a triangle to each side. Then reflect the resulting shape so as to hide the square inside it, leaving only regular triangles on the outside.
In two dimensions, we have a triangle and a square.
Q: Why don’t we have a half-octahedron shape? A: Because I don’t like squares.
Notice that all the pieces have an inset along each edge. This inset is designed to hold a connector piece. We have two kinds of connector pieces: flexible and solid. Flexible pieces are designed to be tougher and allow to hold a fixed angle. On the other hand, solid connectors slide more easily and allow to create flexible, dynamic arrangements.
Flexible pieces are considerably easier to insert, they require significantly less skill and force to use. On the other hand, solid connectors are harder to use, and we have a special tool for inserting them (flexible connectors nca be inserted by hand).
Another advantage of flexible connectors is that they can be inserted over a wider range of angles of approach than the solid counterparts. This is especially useful if you build complicated structures where it is hard to reach in the edges you are trying to connect. For example, this is true of the soccer ball lamp:
