Conversations with Experts

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Carlos Silveira,BDC Mentor and Designer

Silveira pushed the project to confront the gap between human systems and biological intelligence. Rather than trying to match the efficiency of bees, he framed the work as an exercise in humility, using human limitations as a core driver of the narrative.

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Insights

• Humans cannot replicate biological efficiency.
• Working with only the body and natural resources creates a constraint.
• Project does not act as proof of “success” but of inefficiency.
• Language shift to “human-made ingredients”
• The value lies in comparison: bee propolis vs. human attempts.
• Standardize testing conditions.

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Brad Hakes, Designer

Brad grounded the project in biological research; a deeper investigation into propolis as an ecological material and a system. His input expanded the project into questions of immunity and experimental rigor.

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Insights

• Propolis functions as more than a structural material; it represents colony-level immunity.
• Investigate whether bee-specific processes are essential to effectiveness.
• Map and visualize how bees collect and process resources.

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George Hegeman, Retired Microbiologist and Beekeeper

George introduced a systemic perspective, encouraging the project to go beyond material and toward the process of propolis. His input framed propolis as a part of a broader set of environmental and collective interactions.

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Insights

• Consider propolis as a process.
• Consider environmental dynamics (i.e. temperature and resource availability).
• Introduction of systems concepts like flow, distribution, and regulation into the project.