Welcome to Bee About It, a blog dedicated to the inspirations and experiences of backyard beekeeper and Bee Amour founder Anna Gieselman.
To get us started I want to share my story and give you a quick introduction to my jewelry and my bees. I am an artist and jewelry designer making my 34th trip around the sun and living the good life in my hometown of Austin Texas. Creating wearable art began back in 2000 while I was studying photography at The Santa Fe University of Art and Design. At some point I found myself back in Austin building a creative life in which I’m blessed to do what I love everyday!
In order to explain how Bee Amour came into existence I have to take you back to 2010 when I began keeping bees in my backyard. I started this hobby as a response to my growing concern about colony collapse disorder and to satisfy my desire to learn something new. Little did I know that bees would inspire my creative expressions as well as provide me with a new path in life.
A year after installing my first hive the bees began creating queen cells in preparation to swarm. I cut these cells out and a year later ended up taking a casting class at Creative Side Jewelry Academy where I turned them into pendants. These first pieces inspired a line which is now sold online and in numerous stores around the US. Bee Amour’s sustainable growth has allowed production to stay in-house where I can maintain quality over quantity making each piece by hand. I find making jewelry to be as meditative as beekeeping and I take a lot of pleasure in the process of creating unique pieces for my customers.
Cast Queen Cell
From it’s inception in 2012 Bee Amour has maintained a commitment to helping “save the bees”. In the beginning this meant raising my own little hive and donating 5% of company profits to bee loving organizations. Then at the end of 2014 I was approached by Alissa Bayer the owner of Milk + Honey Spa and a long time friend. She wanted to do more to help save the bees and was curious if I had any suggestions on how to do that. The following spring we launched an urban apiary with ten hives. As we enter our second year we are set to double the amount of hives in the apiary as well as take on a new batch of beekeeping apprentices to learn the craft. I often joke there is never a dull day beekeeping and after 6 years of handling these amazing creatures I can honestly say the learning adventure never stops!
So what next? This year in addition to launching my new website and doubling the amount of bees I manage I also hope to learn some new jewelry making techniques to share with you! Stay tuned and follow my adventures on Instagram @lovebeeamour.