Sophie Coryndon’s Honeycomb Marriage Mirror takes inspiration from grotto furniture. From the 16th century onward, grottoes were constructed as fanciful retreats from reality. Throughout Europe, these fantasy structures were “adorned with interesting rock formations, fountains, seashells, and often, matching furniture.” The fashion continued through the Rococo period and into the 19th century. The intricate scrollwork, with C and S-curved designs were based on the sea shells.

This ‘fantasy structure’ explores Sophie Coryndon’s interest in bees, a topic she became captivated by after learning about the current global crisis facing the insects. In an effort to capture abandoned “ghost ship hives,” Coryndon employs the lost-wax method, an ancient and labor-intensive technique. Coryndon imagines the carved motifs and scrolls have been built over by bees, using the small spaces between the ornamentation to store honey. It imagines a collaboration where man makes the structure and nature creates the ‘grotto’ or the fantasy element.