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Driven by a family legacy in apiculture, Studio Marlène Huissoud’s research explores the potential of leveraging insect life cycles and their inherent waste streams for the creation of sustainable craft artifacts. This project explores the viability of harnessing insects and their natural waste streams to create sustainable craft artifacts. The work moves beyond the contemporary focus on entomophagy (insects for food production) to investigate a collaborative design approach, where insects are treated as co-partners in material generation.
The focus is specifically on two farmed insects Apis mellifera the common honey bee, which yields propolis a naturally biodegradable resin and Bombyx mori the Indian silkworm, which discards its robust cocoon upon reaching maturity.
Different craft techniques were developed depending on the specific properties of each material. A collection of vessels, for example, was produced using novel glass-working techniques applied to the bio-resin. The project, titled “From Insects,” celebrates the potential for beauty and utility in these unique, insect-derived materials.
