The author explores natural patterns through code, focusing on phyllotaxis, the expanding double-spiral found in sunflowers and succulents. By rotating points by the golden ratio, they generate a point cloud that, when Voronoi tessellated, resembles seed pods. Intrigued by this emergent shape, the creator decided to build a physical object using an RGB addressable LED in each cell.

The project involved exporting cell edge data from a Processing sketch and importing it into a Python script using the Cad Query library. Code was written to build physical geometry, cutting negative space and LED-sized holes from the merged Voronoi cells. The final geometry was split into four quadrants to fit a 3D printer bed, with post-processing in Free CAD adding screw holes and a faceplate. Translucent mulberry paper was glued to the faceplate to diffuse the light organically.

Assembly required soldering 89 LEDs, a tedious but flow-inducing task. The device was connected to a spare STM32 blackpill board, with a custom Neopixel driver written using SPI. A simple framework allows the user to write Processing-style shader code for the LEDs, utilizing a look-up table for positions. This enables complex patterns, such as radial spirals, to be rendered easily on the physical display.