How a Hornets’ Nest Totally Blew My Mind
We interrupt our coverage of material culture to discuss a natural wonder. Plus a new Inconspicuous News Roundup!
I write a lot about human-designed products and the material culture surrounding them (which in recent weeks has led to an existential crisis and a bit of soul-searching). Even when I engage with the natural world, I often mediate that engagement with a bit of material design, like the way I put my houseplants in vintage tin cans, or my old Gromm•It project.
But sometimes nature itself is the best designer. Case in point: Last summer there was a big hornets’ nest in the tree in front of my house. My upstairs neighbors and I watched the hornets coming and going all summer. They weren’t bothering anyone, so there was no need to call an exterminator. I never took a photo of the nest, but it looked a lot like this:
The hornet colony died off as winter approached (this is standard), but the empty nest remained in the tree until about a month ago, when my upstairs neighbor Sue found it on the sidewalk, where it had fallen and broken open. She took the nest upstairs, used it as the basis for some drawings and paintings, and then gave it to me. Here’s how it looks now:
