IKEA Is Encouraging People To Build Their Own Customized Bee Home For Free

Just about a week ago, on the 20th of May, was marked World Bee Day, conservationists and scientists are aiming to raise awareness on this day on the vital role of bees, and what we can do to stop further harming of them.

Bees, together with other pollinators, are an essential part of our ecosystem, responsible for about a third of the food we eat. Unfortunately, bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities. To raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face, and their contribution to sustainable development, the UN designated 20 May as World Bee Day.

So to celebrate this day, IKEA has launched Bee Home in its external innovation hub called SPACE10. Created in collaboration with Bakken & Bæck (which was recently named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2020 by Fast Company) and designer Tanita Klein, the goal of the project is to enable people from all corners of the world to design and download a Bee Home for free to take action in preserving bees.

For more info: Bee Home | SPACE10 | Bakken & Bæck | Tanita Klein

Image credits: Irina Boersma

As the UN explains it in its website, bees not only have been endangered due to human impact, climate change, and invasive species but lately also due to COVID-19. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has had an undeniable impact on the beekeeping sector affecting the production, the market, and as a consequence, the livelihoods of beekeepers. This year, World Bee Day focused on bee production and good practices adopted by beekeepers to support their livelihoods and deliver good quality products.

For this reason, with the new Bee Home project, SPACE10 aims to make it easy for people to take action locally. So after teaming up with Bakken & Bæck and designer Tanita Klein, together they launched an open-source Bee Home.

Image credits: Irina Boersma

Image credits: Brendan Austin

Bee Home is a free, open-source design, marking a new era of democratic design for IKEA. “With a design that is flexible and accessible through open-source design principles, everyone everywhere is empowered to design and fabricate their own Bee Home locally,” the creatives behind the project explained.

Image credits: Irina Boersma

90% of all bees are, in fact, solitary bees, which means that they live alone and not in colonies. Known for being great pollinators, one solitary bee can provide as much pollination as 120 honeybees! Since they don’t live in complex hives, all they need are small holes that protect them from moisture and weather, where they can store pollen and lay eggs.

Image credits: Brendan Austin

To encourage people to take action locally by preserving solitary bees, the Bee Home project makes it easy for anyone to design a lovely home for this essential species. In just 3 easy steps, users can create their own bee home in almost no time. All you have to do is select size, visual style, and desired placement, whether that’d bee your balcony, rooftop, or garden.

Image credits: Brendan Austin

Image credits: Adrian Vindelev

After finishing, you can download your personalized design files for free, together with easy instructions on how to build your bee home. After downloading the design files, the user can forward them to their local CNC machine-owner, where it can be built using digital fabrication. The last step is placing your bee home and then planting some flowers for the insects to pollinate.

Image credits: Adrian Vindelev

“I want people to design a dream home for bees that provides the perfect environment for their offspring, while at the same time being incredibly easy to design, assemble, and place, designer Tanita Klein explained. “It was important for me that Bee Home is aesthetically pleasing and almost feels like you’ve added a sculpture to your garden or your balcony. This project really exemplifies how design can do good for both people and their environment.”

Image credits: Adrian Vindelev

For those who are afraid of the bees, no need to worry—solitary bees are friendly. Since they don’t produce honey, the buzzing insects have nothing to protect, while the males don’t even have a sting. In addition to this, no maintenance of the bee house is required besides a quick cleaning every third year. “In fact, once you put it up, you should just leave it be,” the Bee Home creatives advised.

Image credits: Irina Boersma

Guy Explains Why His CEO Left Work At Exactly At 5 PM, Others Share Stories About The Wholesome Bosses They’ve Had)

Throughout the months, we’ve known some people who had conflicts with their higher-ups for not respecting their work schedules. For example, we met this man who wasn’t allowed to leave early even though there was no more work, so he saw to it that he wouldn’t work anymore after his time. We have also known this guy who wasn’t let go even after his work hours.

Today, we’ll end these kinds of stories on a positive note. In a TikTok video by Alec (@handle), he retold his story where he observed his boss leaving at 5 pm on the dot. He then discovered him doing some work in his car. When he asked him why he did his matters in the car and not in his office, the boss responded that he wanted his employees to appreciate their work schedules by making them comfortable at leaving at 5 pm as well.

More info: TikTok

Bosses who respect their employees’ work schedules still exist, and this man can attest to that

Image credits: pm_alec

In his video, he revealed that his CEO would leave the office exactly at the last minute of work



Image credits: pm_alec

The viewers applauded the CEO for such a positive habit



Some users shared that there are even more of those who care








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