There is more to Matariki than a holiday, illuminated by a cluster of bright stars in our sky. Each of the stars helps Papatūānuku to prepare for the year ahead. One special star Ngā pī meaning bees works tirelessly to pollinate flowers so plants can flourish, and we don’t need to share how devasted we and our planet would be without the humble honey bee. To help celebrate Matariki, Lukeke Design is launching glass cast bees, to join the family of famous birds and butterflies on Friday, July 24. Style director Louise Hilsz talks with glass artist Luke Jacomb about his latest design innovation. Read on to learn more.

What is the process of making one of their beautiful bees?

We make the bees using the ‘lost wax,’ technique. To put it simply, we create a mould to pour the wax into and then carve additional detail into the wax. We then layer it up with plaster, dry it and then steam the wax out. Each mould is left with an empty plaster mould to fill with glass before cooking it in a kiln for a day. It’s called the ‘lost wax’ technique because the plaster mould has to be destroyed in order to reveal the 'lost wax' glasswork.

How long do they take to make?

About five days from start to finish. It's quite an involved process as a number of things can go wrong such as breakages, kiln temperature and materials availability - working with glass really is a labour of love!

Each bee retails for $325, available in over 42 glass colours (please note that the colour variants displayed are of our bird species, read their colour disclaimer). Cast glass with set screw fitting which can be mounted on any type of wall. Check out the installation instructions. For a design consultation service, ask Lukeke Design for composition ideas using multiple bees and a full colour chart.