Byron Bay's Flow Hive is breaking some serious Crowdfunding records.


Here's some great #juststart #byronbay inspiration. A father and son from Byron Bay region have revolutionised an entire industry with their Flow beehive invention. A simple technique to harvest honey straight from the beehive without disrupting the hive. Not only have these entrepreneurs reinvented beekeeping, they're using the innovation of crowdfunding to finance it. It is the largest international campaign ever on Indiegogo raising over 10M US dollars and still counting. As soon as their campaign went live, the numbers went through the roof. People were convinced instantly. The world needs more bees.

Here’s how it works: the Flow frames are comprised of partially formed honeycombs. Once installed in the beehive, the bees complete the honeycombs with their own wax and begin filling the cells with honey. When the cells are full and the bees have capped them off, a turn of a lever splits all the cells open, allowing the honey to run out and be channeled to an external tap where the honey is collected in jars. Simple, sophisticated, absolutely genius. If you’re curious about the workings in more detail, have a look at honeyflow.com

Evolution calling
Traditional - and dangerous and distressing - techniques to withdraw the honey form the hive, such as smoking the bees or dismantling the hives are officially history. No wonder beekeepers were eager to buy! Harvesting of honey is a real ‘labour of love’ as Ceder puts it. And it’s precisely the love for beekeeping that made the Andersons think: there’s got to be a better way, and it has to be beneficial for both parties. Just as much as bees have a significant role in the survival of us humans, we also play an important role in the survival of the bees. Seeing nature is always evolving and the bees accepting the frames quickly shows us that this invention is indeed (r)evolutionary!

Rome wasn’t built in a day
And neither was this invention. This creation didn’t miraculously happen. The idea for Flow has been a decade in the making. “People think of us as an overnight success, but it has taken years to get to this point.” A vision, passion for the craftsmanship and years and years of iteration have lead to the dream being realised today.

Here are the rock-star records (so far):

Unprocessed, untouched and directly from the hive. Perfection. There’s only one thing on our minds now: we can't wait for what's next, let the honey flow and more bee's! Simplicity really is the ultimate sophistication. However simple the idea... #juststart