Last month, luxury brand Chaumet joined forces with 8Shades at a very special ‘Bee My Love’ event, shining a light on the importance of bee conservation and sustainability.
On Tuesday, 21 June 2022, Chaumet opened its arms to the 8Shades community. Six lucky 8Shaders joined our founder Emily and friends at Chaumet’s store in Lee Gardens. They enjoyed an afternoon of champagne and canapes, whilst trying on exquisite jewellery from the Bee My Love collection.
Bee My Love
Throughout the history of Chaumet, the bee has been an iconic symbol – an emblem to the eternal love and power of Napoleon I and his wife, Empress Josephine.
Bee My Love is a true ode to bees, expressed in the form of one of its signature bee-inspired honeycomb motifs. The collection’s beautiful reinterpretation of the honeycomb design conveys a powerful message about the resilience of bees, while paying homage to Napoleon and symbolising the prestige of his empire.
After some mingling time, all guests were invited into the store’s VIP room, where there was a beautiful layout of gold paint, paintbrushes, a spread of decorative crafts and a wooden bee hotel in the signature Chaumet blue.
While everyone decorated their bee hotels, Arthur Au – the co-founder of Eco Pioneer – was invited to explain what this workshop stands for and why bee hotels are important.
We learned that bees are one of the most important pollinators for our food crops. Many people have a fear of bees due to the chance of getting stung, but Arthur changed our views on bees – in fact, it’s a life without bees that we should be fearing!
Due to climate change, lost habitats, the use of pesticides and many other environmental factors, the population of this creature – which is so essential to our ecosystem – has been declining rapidly. Simply put, humans will not survive without bees.
On a lighter note, all worker bees are female, and this event helped to raise awareness and support them. So this truly was not just an environmental awareness event, but a female empowerment event too!
8 Ways To Help Support Bees
1. Understand and educate yourself about the importance of bees and why they are essential to humanity – together we can learn and spread the word.
2. Grow a bee garden. One of the biggest threats to bees is the lack of safe habitats where they can find shelter and build a home. Plant a range of flowers on your balcony, backyard or rooftop; bees love primroses, hydrangeas, marigolds and even everyday herbs such as basil, mint, rosemary and chives.
3. Support organic farmers and go chemical-free for bees.
4. Use less paper and recycle more, as paper is made from wood and bees get most of their nectar from trees.
5. Support local beekeepers and organisations. For instance, local honey that is made from local floral can help with seasonal allergies – and tastes delicious! By doing this, you will also help reduce the carbon emissions used to ship imported honey from overseas.
6. Buy sustainable honey; when done right, bee farming can be very sustainable.
7. Build bee hotels and hang them in your rooftop garden, balcony or in your urban farm.
8. When you come across this wonderful creature, don’t be afraid and try to kill it… Let it beeeeeeee!
Thanks again to Chaumet for hosting this fantastic event especially for 8Shaders, and we look forward to seeing more of you at other fun sustainable events like these in the future!
Find out more about Chaumet’s Bee My Love collection
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