‘programmed hive #7’ by hilary berseth, 2008

while the cactus is having its moment as the formal reference du jour, we have also picked up on the use of beeswax as a design material. for instance, we recently posted stephanie simek’s ‘milk & honey’ necklace, which uses real beeswax honeycomb. other examples include mariana tocornal’s beeswax teacups and studio libertiny’s beeswax amphora and honeycomb vase.

the latest example of this material is in the work of american artist, hilary berseth. like studio libertiny, berseth uses the bees to sculpt his artworks directly. he begins with wire and wax frames, which the bees then fill in with their honeycomb. to create a piece, berseth places his frame into a closed box in the spring and lets a new crop of bees create a honeycomb frame work, which they proceed to fill with honey. while the bees are fairly regimented in their honey making, the result of each piece is still unpredictable.