Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny constructed vase-shaped beehive scaffolds (removed at the end of the process) and then let nature take its course: a group of bees went to work building a hive, layer by layer, in the same shape as the scaffold. The work took from two to ten days, depending on the weather, the season, the size of the colony, and its need to expand. It took one week and approximately forty thousand bees to complete this particular Honeycomb Vase. The process, which the designer calls “slow prototyping” in an ironic counterpoint to today’s rapid manufacturing technologies, poetically brings a natural phenomenon full circle, starting with flowers, which nourish bees and enabled them to produce the vase, and ending with a vessel that is meant to contain flowers.

Gallery label from

Design and the Elastic Mind, February 24–May 12, 2008.

Manufacturer Studio Libertiny
Medium Beeswax
Dimensions 9 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2" (22.9 x 14 x 14 cm)
Credit Gift of The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation
Object number 444.2008
Department Architecture & Design

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