8 September 2015
It’s not one of the pavilions of Expo Milan 2015, but it is producing sustainable and natural food during the six months of the fair: it is Francesco Faccin’s Honey Factory, with which the designer is proposing a system for the production of honey in the city. After the worldwide success of urban kitchen gardens, this large-scale hive offers the possibility of setting the insects to work making honey in city gardens. Faccin has designed a vertical structure, a sort of small wooden tower which the bees enter from the top. Following a special route, the insects reach the hive without ever coming into contact with anyone who might be passing by. The message is a decidedly green one: bees are indicators of the planet’s health, as their presence is a guarantee of environmental wellbeing, while their absence sounds a clear alarm about the level of pollution. A glass door allows people to watch the dance of the bees as they collect the precious nectar, offering a visual spectacle that is also an aural experience thanks to the subdued humming of the insects. Honey Factory is another piece in Faccin’s body of work, oriented toward a humanization of the product and the rediscovery of the fundamental elements of our tradition of making things. The prototype was commissioned by Marva Griffin and produced by Riva1920, a historic firm specializing in the manufacture of wooden furniture with a high content of innovation. Honey Factory will be at work in the gardens of the Milan Triennale, partner in the project, until October 31.