A bee hotel by custom woodworker and furniture maker Rasmus Fenhann, the chic-looking Air Bee n’ Bee was designed for the Autumn Cabinetmakers 2020 SE exhibition in Denmark whose theme was “Illusions.”

Air Bee n’ Bee by Rasmus Fenhann

Bee homes, nests and bee hotels are growing in popularity as the world learns more about the significant contributions of bees to the planet. An increasing number of people are putting up small bee houses in their gardens and yards to help support the bee population. Often made of bamboo with what they call ‘nesting tubes’, these homes for hives attract peaceful bee pollinators of all kinds. Rasmus Fenhann stepped it up a notch by designing one that is a luxury version of the many you can find on Amazon.

The SE (Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling) Exhibition gave its members free rein to dream and to engage in broad, abstract interpretations in an interplay with the concrete setting in Tivoli’s Parterre Gardens. Their intent was to create an exhibition that offered a site-specific reading of the Parterre Gardens, with its flower beds, perennials and trickling water, and also welcomed irrational and artistic furniture visions. One of the submissions was the Air Bee n’ Bee, a nesting hotel for bees, by Rasmus Fenhann.

The hexagonal shaped hotel for bees is made of teak, mahogany, walnut and oak woods. The front side has entry holes of various circumferences which lead to deep holes in various diameters that form nesting tubes. This way the bi-hotel can accommodate different wild bee species with its own private entrance and accommodations.

Made up of adjustable wooden blocks that fit together without glue, the composition of the Air Bee n’ Bee is such that it can be easier to clean the rooms between use (as any good hotel would do).

The back side, like the front, features Fenhann’s sublime woodwork and answers the “illusion” theme literally. What appears as dimensional on the front and back is the effect of wood parquetry.

Wood Parquetry is a process in which the wood blocks are assembled and organized in a geometric pattern -much like the bees’ own hexagonal universe- creating the illusion of three dimensions.

Geometric illusion has been used in art, architecture and cabinetry in many different cultures for centuries. Rasmus Fenhann says he drew inspiration, in part, from patterned parquet flooring and from the Japanese technique of Yosegi-Zaiku.

The hotel can be adjusted on its round pillar according to the sun’s orientation or placed close to the flowers for the bee guests.

Dimensions
Width:26cm
Height:30cm
Depth:18cm

This project was supported by the Danish Art Foundation

Rasmus Fenhann

Photos by both Jeppe Gudmundsen Holmgreen and Rasmus Fenhann, courtesy of the artist

You can see other submissions to the 2020 SE Exhibition here

Bee Houses are growing in popularity, you can find many here on Amazon.
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