The Hive is a furniture collection of a coffee table and two stools that brings people together to sit and ponder the existence of honey bees in the world. Paired with infographics, the goal of the project is to inform viewers about honey bees through visual representation and immersion into the furniture. To visually emulate this, the table is representative of a comb from a bee hive, with the seats of the stools cut to visualize the shape of the hexagonal cells within a comb. Each piece of furniture is finished with a combination of beeswax and orange oil to add vibrancy to the wood with an all-natural product.
Throughout the creation of this project, my process focused on research and prototyping. I created many iterations of cardboard models of different furniture pieces to find the one that best conveys my idea. Alongside physical prototyping, I was also researching functional pieces of artwork and how other artists have implemented interaction within their work. To learn more about bees I met with a beekeeper and professor at the university to hear about his experience owning and taking care of a colony. These processes helped to inform my work and making.
