And bees directed by Studio Libertiny.
Says Inhabitat:
Making its debut at Droog’s booth in Milan, the vase was made by 40,000 bees over the course of one week. Studio Libertiny constructed a vase-shaped hive that the bees then colonized, building a hexagonal comb to encompass the existing form. And in the usual dry yet oh-so-clever Dutch manner, Studio Libertiny calls this process “slow prototyping,†a more time-consuming, yet much more poetic alternative to CNC rapid prototyping.
Beautiful in its ephemeral nature, Libertiny’s “collaboration†with honey bees pushes the boundaries of so-called conventional design by defying mass production and enabling nature to create what would typically be considered a man-made product.
(Saw it myself in London a month or so ago, at the V&A. It is even nicer than in the picture.)