Bee Natural, Inc.
160 Winston Drive, Suite 8,
Athens, GA 30607
Phone: (706)354-0645 Fax: (706)354-0845
info@beenatural.com
Prior to the discovery of the method for making the Honeypot® luminaries
(1993), Creighton Cutts worked on Cumberland Island and in
the Marine Mammals Department at the Smithsonian Institution www.nmnh.si.edu/vert/mammals/mmp.html.
He has been involved in several research projects,
including lead technician on the Cumberland
Island bobcat reintroduction project and training personnel
and conducting
surveys for The
Dolphin Project, a multi-year study endorsed
by the Smithsonian to determine if the Bottlenose Dolphin
population on the coast of Georgia was recovering from the
die-off that
occurred during the mid-eighties. Creighton still maintains
ties with the Smithsonian, and spends 1-2
months a year on Cumberland Island. He was
formally appointed Associate Curator of the private
Cumberland Island Museum www.cimuseum.org seven
years ago, and was one of the principals involved
in the actual construction of the facility some
years earlier.
Creighton's major goals in research are to assist graduate
students in their efforts to secure scholarships
and grants for environmental related studies,
to continue with the marine mammal and reptile stranding
and reproduction research that he has been involved in for two
decades, and formulate the proposal and raise the capital to expand
the Smithsonian Institution to a network of museums across
the US (an idea proposed by the Secretary of the Smithsonian several
years ago but presently not seriously pursued by the government).
His somewhat idyllic island lifestyle changed abruptly with
the serendipitous invention of the Honeypot® concept.
While working on a piece of sculpture
in wax (that was to eventually end up as a bronze
finished piece), Creighton came up with a technique of manipulating
hot
wax that resulted in a uniformed, smooth wax shell with a
predictable and controllable thickness. Recognizing the inherent
beauty
of this new object, he immediately initiated the patent process
and began selling Honeypot® Luminaries, initially at the
merchandise mart in Atlanta (and eventually several other commercial
trade shows across
the U.S.) and in Colorado, where a friend had room in the
basement for limited production - allowing hand delivery for
orders
in Aspen,
Vail, and other resort destinations.
Thus it began. During the early years of Bee Natural, Creighton
also found himself with a wonderful new partner, his son Hunter,
who, now thirteen , helps his dad with
projects as diverse as breaking up blocks of beeswax
to necropsies of stranded sea turtles on the beach, to
picking
and pressing flowers for the Honeypot® décor
(what a contrast!!).
In 1998 Creighton purchased Frontier, in Athens, GA, the first
gift shop ever to sell Bee Natural products
(and the top Honeypot® selling shop in
the country!). He decided to return full business focus onto
the
Honeypots® after the economic slump slowed the historically
seemingly effortless growth Bee Natural had enjoyed.
Creighton
sold Frontier in the fall of 2003 and it remains one of the
top sellers of Honeypots®.
Since then there has been a rejuvenating reversal in the economy
(at least in Honeypot® interest!) and
the Bee Natural crew was excited to receive numerous
articles in several major periodicals in 2004
and a feature on Turner South.
We were also honored to decorate
the stage at the premier of the play "The Secret
Life of Bees" in
New York City.
Creighton's plan from the beginning has been to use the profits
from this unique idea to finance needed environmental research
for
the greater good. Portions of the profits
from Honeypot® sales help support the
research being done on Cumberland Island, as well several other
non-profit organizations. In the next couple of years Creighton
plans
to move slowly back to full time research project development
and let the Bee Natural Crew run the candle making business!
Thank you for taking the time to find out a little about what
we are up to at Bee Natural. We look forward
to making a fantastic Honeypot® luminary
for you in the near future!
Bee Natural, Inc. operates from Athens, Georgia.
A portion of proceeds from Honeypot® sales are donated
to support environmental research
Our artists
create handcrafted beeswax Honeypot® luminaries.
We invented
and patented (5,492,664; 5,697,697; 5,980,061; 6,196,706) the
process of creating Honeypots®.
Our
Story
Bee
Natural - Home of the Honeypot
1998 - 2009 Bee Natural, Inc.