The Bees
There are bees at Herman Miller. Lots of them. I’d read about the them and watched the video. It wasn’t until yesterday, after a long afternoon in archives that I decided to traipse out and see them for myself. First, forget the bees, I’ve never seen so many crickets in my life. The wide mown path that leads to the hives was home to probably 50,000 of the critters who scattered (I hope) at my every step. The yellow and white wooden hives are neatly arranged in a field across from the GreenHouse (the place where, among other things, Aeron chairs are assembled and my boss works). The award-winning building was designed by William McDonough + Partners in 1995. Part of the design includes the open meadow and wetland around the building that processes and purifies the building’s stormwater. The meadow also means there’s less lawn to water, mow and less need for herbicides and pesticides. You can see from the pictures this certainly makes a very nice environment for a bee.
That’s nice to see the pictures. Suzette of the NY Herman Miller showroom gave me a small jar of the honey last winter and I have preciously kept it since then. I especially like the distressed look of the beehives with the mismatched stones and bricks on top of them. They both contrasts with and supports the company products and philosophy. It makes the whole story even more likable and genuine.