The shape of the sculpture is topologically equivalent to the space between two hands that reach for each other in a traditional handshake, but stop short of touching. The holes in the sculpture correspond to the places where the thumb and fingers would be situated. Before it was commissioned in stone, the design was created for a 1999 snow sculpture competition by a team including Ferguson, math professor Stan Wagon, former Mac math professor Dan Schwalbe, and Tamas Nemeth ’99.