2015-2017 | Beegin Beehive

  • Beegin Urban Beehive

This project by Ivan Brown focused on the design of an improved beehive to support local urban agriculture and was the final project of Ivan’s BTech (BA Hons) in Industrial Design in 2015. From 2016-2017, the project expanded into an MTech (Master’s) in Industrial Design where Ivan expanded the hive into an appropriate technology system for emergent beekeepers. The resultant beekeeping system was refined through field testing and development towards its implementation, and led to Ivan graduating with his Master’ degree Cum Laude.  I lead supervised both projects, with Prof. Naudé Malan from the UJ Department of Development Studies co-supervising the Masters. The successful commercialisation of Beegin became a model for the UJ Department of Industrial Design to encourage other students to see the value of design research to scale ideas from education to enterprise.

Overview:

The importance of socially responsible design and participatory research methods for problem-solving in developing nations is unquestionable. The aim of this design research project was to develop a system that could contribute directly and indirectly to food security. In 2015, Ivan began developing appropriate beekeeping technology for local urban farmers as a final BTech Industrial Design mini-dissertation project. The beekeeping technology system that emerged was intended to benefit low-income, small-scale farming communities, as well as promote sustainability in troubled beekeeping and agricultural industries. However, the outcome represented only an initial solution that needed to be field-tested and further developed into a system ready for implementation. It would potentially include additional devices and resources in order to create a system that could be scaled to provide different markets with access to the technology. As such, the MTech research project intended to further develop the appropriate beekeeping technology towards an implementable state through field testing – providing a small group of urban farmers and expert beekeepers with the beekeeping technology and documenting their use of the beehives, production tools and other components over one season (Spring to Winter). Through an iterative Human-Centered Design approach, testing, user participation and design refinement, the appropriateness of the appropriate beekeeping technology was improved and evaluated. The study identified a gap in research on the field testing and development stages of appropriate technology, leading to an implementation-ready system – an area lacking in academic design research and Industrial Design. Appropriate Technology theories, the Capabilities Approach and Designing for Outcomes were used to create a theoretical framework to position the problem philosophically but also to encourage the delivery of tangible benefits through the research. In this way, the study was able to simultaneously address the central problem and affect meaningful change in the lives of the participants.

At the beginning of 2019, Beegin launched as a commercial enterprise. It started as a University project in 2016 with the goal of developing a system for emergent beekeepers to become fully self-sufficient and keep bees in a more sustainable way. Through intensive participatory research and field testing, Ivan developed an appropriate technology system that is accessible (low-cost & low-tech) and sustainable (economically & environmentally). The system is centred on lightweight concrete beehives and the moulding tools for producing the hives – appropriating standard Western beekeeping systems. This revolutionary new way of making durable, low-cost, insulating beehives is the answer to many of the problems faced by beekeepers, and Ivan hopes it will contribute towards a brighter future for bees. As of March 2025, the 350 mould sets have been sold in 26 countries, with over 16,500 Bee Bunka’s produced by Beegin and their customers. This is a story of success both for Ivan as a graduating student immediately becoming a business owner, for the small-scale farmers who diversified into beekeeping, for the beekeepers who praise the hives for increasing their bees’ productivity, and ultimately, for the bees who seem far happier in their newly designed homes!

For more information please contact Ivan Brown. To see the full range of Beegin’s products visit their website www.beegin.co.za/ and Facebook page www.facebook.com/beeginSA/

Impact:

  • Intl. presentation: Ivan presented Beegin at the Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability (DESIS) Annual General Meeting in Hong Kong on 26 November 2016:

  • Interview: Ivan was interviewed about the Beegin beehive on CCTV news 5 November 2016:

  • Interview: Ivan was interviewed about the Beegin beehive for Die Groot Ontbyt on 13 July 2016:

Acknowledgements:

This work is based on research supported in part by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa for the Thuthuka, unique grant number 88030 held by Angus D. Campbell and titled, Designing Development: An Exploration of Technology Innovation by Small-Scale Urban Farmers in Johannesburg. Any opinion, finding, and conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material are that of the authors, and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard.