OMel

Bee or not to bee?

Since 1998, Omdesign believes that true luxury lies in simplicity and details. Year after year, the Portuguese creative agency raises awareness for the importance of preserving nature and the urgency of preparing for the future.

Here, at Omdesign, we have no doubts: we are, and will be, equal to ourselves. Together, we defend our values, our purpose and our mission. We want to be part of the solution, transform mindsets and promote a turning point, with a view to the common good.

In these years of great challenges and a lot of creativity, we wanted to go further. With a lot of resilience, audacity and hard work, we kept our focus on the path we had set out and went to draw inspiration from a small, great being, with a huge impact on our planet.

Omdesign interpreted the way of life of solitary bees, true pollinating nomads and synonymous with hard work, to create this original piece and thus inaugurate a network of 150 hotels! Each Bee Om Hotel is special and will help to instill a sustainable, united and purposeful mindset.

We tasted the bees’ honey (“Mel”, in Portuguese), which we wrapped with the natural cork that welcomes them, and gave life to this pack. Built with reused and surplus production of wooden wine boxes, which would be destroyed and burned, OMel seeks to return to the environment a refuge for solitary bees to make it home and continue to protect the biodiversity of ecosystems.

History has written that only in perfect harmony and integration of all parts it is possible for us to cohabit with the glimpse of a future. For this reason, on top of our OMel is the spoon-shaped pencil, the starting point to continue writing the rest of the story. With it, we also collect the nectar delivered by the bees and invite you to reuse the jar that carries it. And may the next pages reveal to us that this is yet another small chapter in our history and our commitment to the future, full of daring, dedication and consistency.

This self-promotion project was thought to work as an alert and a representation of the importance of the circle of life. Our Bee Om Hotels network will create a perfect and safe habitat for bees around the world. We selected all the materials based on the idea of the 3 “R”: reused wood, reusable jar and spoon-shaped pencil, and reduced production processes. As Albert Einstein is thought to have said, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live”. True pollination shelters, the bee hotels play a key role in sustainability, so they are a safe place for winter hibernation/summer reproduction and, thus, a guarantee of our balance and continuity.

Omdesign also used virgin raw materials to avoid a negative impact on the environment. To start installing OMel, firstly we need to remove the honey collector pencil, then press the layers of wood down and remove the jar as soon as the boards are all together. Then, we cut the two dowels that are at the top and hang this bee hotel in a green area, in the heart of the city, 1mt above the ground, in a stable area, and with the holes facing forward. We also should favor places with flowers and avoid proximity to bird nests, to keep bees safe. After the installation in Nature, we cannot disturb the bee hotel during winter, since the solitary bees will only emerge the following spring. Hopefully, this will show the world that the next chapter is written with hope and sustainability!