Bee Thinking

Bee Thinking, the world’s first beekeeping supplier specializing in foundationless beehives, is located in a 1,750 square foot building in SE Portland.

Their beehives are designed in-house, crafted at their mill in Portland, Oregon using kiln dried Western Red Cedar from the Pacific Northwest, and made to be easily assembled by both a hobbyist or professional beekeeper.

The space plan was inspired by the study of a bee’s habitat and movement.

Bees communicate through dance, the ‘Waggle Dance,’ which is a story communicated through a language of precise movement and physical cues.

These include an educational section with books and learning tools, fully assembled beehives, protective equipment, and do-it-yourself kits.

The material palette was inspired by a mason beehive, which is not the honeycomb so commonly associated with bees, but a tightly grouped series of patterned perforations in wood.

Left in a natural tone at key moments, the cedar was weathered with a gray stain at key merchandising areas to offset the amber color of the honey and bee’s wax candles.

Bee Thinking’s foundation-less hives are pieces of art, and the design team opted to feature them as sculptures, worthy of study and consideration as not only tools, but profoundly beautiful objects with a noble purpose.