On the Radar -- Buzzzzz

Back in November we talked about honeycombs...now it's time for the bees themselves. We Blackbird girls always love insects and bugs, but we have a special place in our hearts for bees.  We are avid Sherlock Holmes fans, and Laurie R. King's series, starting with The Beekeeper's Apprentice, is one of our favorite things.  Along with, well, you know,  Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock... 

Oh, Sherlock!

But even our other favorite, Alexander McQueen had bees all over his last runway.  So we decided maybe it's not just us, and maybe it's not just the honeycomb.  Today's On the Radar is dedicated to the royal bee, in all its beauty.










Above is a vintage buckle from Bay Tree Gifts on Etsy, available here. 



And here's the Alexander McQueen collar that we're drooling over...

Let's look at some art from Etsy.  A new print:

By GollyBard on Etsy, here.

And something vintage (I'm reallllllyyyy digging this pull down chart...oh, for the wall space to hang it!):

From Linda Bell on Etsy, here.

Light fixture, maybe?

By Marie Christophe

And finally, stunning bee drop earrings:

By Alexis Bittar

On the Radar -- Honeycomb

Colored honeycomb from France.*

Nature is the eternal inspiration for design.  Almost everything we, as humans, make, somehow references the perfection of nature's design.  Bees are so incredibly interesting, from their little monarchies to their honeymaking.  The photo above is not really a good thing -- bees in this area of France have been making this colored honey because they are gathering residue from M&Ms containers in a waste facility nearby.  The resulting honey is unsellable for the beekeepers, and it's not good for the bees.  Even so, this is nature and man designing together somehow, creating beauty that is so complex, yet so elemental.

Bees and honeycomb patterns can be traditional, or they can be translated into modern items.  Forever popular, this is not really a trend, per se, but rather some new takes on an old design. What's old is new again, right?

This is the first image that caught my eye -- honeycomb in copper lacquer:

Tom Dixon, from Elle Decor Nov 2012

And here's the next one, two pages later in my Elle Decor.  I immediately said, "Oooooooohhh..."

Arteriors Pendant Lights

Art installation by Aleksandra Zee:

aleksandrazee.com

My shameless inclusion of Alexander McQueen**, with the 2013 line, inspired by bees and beekeeping:

And finally, just to prove our point that vintage is just as relevant, here's some lovely glasses from Etsy:

From Sweet Potato Jack on Etsy

*Photo from blogs.voanews.com. 
**We're going to have something McQueen in the blog about 95% of the time.  We LOVE him and his line, if you can't tell already... And his work (as does his successor's, Sarah Burton's) always inspires us.