Live from Milan: this is the best thing we’ve seen in Milan so far - a vase made by bees.
With a Little Help of the Bees by Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny of Studio Libertiny is part of Droog’s Smart Deco 2 show.
Libertiny made a vase-shaped hive that the bees then colonised, building a hexagon comb around it. The wax sheets used to make the hive were embossed with a honeycomb pattern to help the bees on their way.
Libertiny calls the process “slow prototyping” - it took 40,000 bees a week to make the vase. Since the bees get aggressive when they are interrupted, Libertiny had to guess when it was time to remove the vase.
Libertiny sent us this statement:
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“I have been interested in contradicting the current consumer society (which is interested in slick design) by choosing to work with a seemingly very vulnerable and ephemeral material - beeswax.
“To give a form to this natural product it has occurred more than logical to choose a form of a vase as a cultural artifact. Beeswax comes from flowers and in the form of a vase ends up serving flowers on their last journey.
“At this point I asked myself a question: “Can I make this product already at the place where the material originates?” My ambition to push things further led me to alienate the process by which bees make their almost mathematically precise honeycomb structures and direct it to create a fragile and valuable object – like a pearl. This takes time and time creates value.
“Not meaning it as an euphemism, I called this process “slow prototyping”. It took 1 week and around 40.000 bees to create a honeycomb vase.”
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Posted by Marcus Fairs
April 19th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Good old Droog Design! Always great… yet, the credits this time must go to the bees!
April 20th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I thought it was creative and original… but a bit sad for the bees. hahaha can’t wait until greenpeace or some other animal activist group starts up a campaign against sweatshop animal labor or something.
April 26th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I too feel bad for the bees
April 26th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I believe global warming has a lot to do with the disappearance of bees…..all insect and animal species are affected…sad but true.
April 26th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Hello, Im a mature student in design HND and am researching insects as part of a design brief and came across your vase, and I have to tell you it’s amazing. I am working with clay (which I hate) metal wood and other recycicable materials, but you have inspired me with your clever clever idea and I want to say thanks!
Hope one day a student researching finds a clever design tip from me…….. Pauline.
April 27th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Pauline that’s pretty interesting stuff!
April 27th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Thank you all for your comments on “made by bees” project. It is also in the face of recent articles on honeybee dissappereance in the US that the idea resonates so much. Actually, before starting this project I had no idea about beekeeping at all, not to say that I thought I can make them do something like a design object. Hope it inspires bright minds …
Studio Libertiny
April 29th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I think that is somw wonderful that bee’s have the ability, and we can see there work. It’s wonderful how nature teaches us to be just as creative with our own minds. I hope the bee’s find there way back to there hives, whatever the problem is.
December 8th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
I’ve experimented with using bees as “sculptors” as well:
http://www.hive-mind.com/bee/blog/2007/07/bee-sculpture-part-next.html
Nothing so beautiful as this, though. The use of negative space is brilliant.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawooooooooo
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
The whole thing is a real departure. If somehow we manage to shrink the bees to nano scale, we will have the nano machine revolution sci-fi has been foretelling for decades.
Beautifull indeed. I want one.