designboom_artist ani abakumova and her husband andrey abakumov, a mathematic genius, work together to create these intricate portraits made from thousands of lines of thread. andrey invented an innovative algorithm that allows ani to create artworks using an infinite spectrum of colors that overlap and overlay to form realistic representations of the mona lisa, the girl with the pearl earring and may others. paintings of old masters, and portraits of beautiful women come to life in a new light through technology.

while ani is responsible for the physical artworks, andrey works on their digital aspects and calculations. each artwork is made using only colored thread, which is carefully attached to nails that line the circumference of the image setting. the multilayered composition, comprising overlapping hues and tones of thread, eventually come together to form each of the facial characteristics. more than 8,000 lines of threads — spanning roughly 4 kilometers — are used to create each portrait. however, ani and andrey are planning to increase the scale of their projects, and also accept personal portrait commissions as well.