Innovating by combining technical processes to create something unique for Christian Dior
Creating a ‘Bee Pick’.
In 2014, Delta Neo was approached by the OnzeHeuresOnze studio, commissioned by the Maison Christian Dior to provide ‘Bee Picks’. The picks produced would be used to decorate flower bouquets handed out during several open houses in Paris in early 2014. The challenge was multifaceted:
- The deadline was extremely tight – some 10 days for the entire project
- Sufficient materials needed to already be in stock due to this tight turnaround time
- Various techniques had to be used one after the other to produce these Bee Picks, including:
- Straightening and cutting metal wire to create the stem
- Micromachining the bees
- Engraving the top surface of the bees
- Welding the bees to the ends of the stems
- Gold-plating the assembled creation
Delta Neo’s teams love a good challenge like this: every technical obstacle is a chance to invent, test and surpass. Delta Neo’s engineering department accepted the challenge, tapping into their various in-house techniques and proceeding as follows:
- A tinned copper wire typically used for other applications was identified
- Our metal wire processing workshop straightened and cut this wire into 400 mm lengths for the stem
- In-stock watchmaking brass was identified
- In our machining workshop, the contours of the bees were micromachined from this brass plate
- Our 3D Engraving workshop carried out surface engraving on the upper side of the bees
- Using die-sinking electrical discharge machining, electrodes were modified by our tooling workshop to give them a shape capable of accommodating the bees prior to welding. These electrodes are also used for welding capacitors
- Over in the metal wire processing workshop, these electrodes were used to weld the bees onto the ends of the 400 mm wires
- At last, the creation was gold-plated by a subcontractor able to produce impeccable quality on very short notice
Finally, meeting the deadline given by the client and ahead of the 3 open-house days, we were able to deliver more than 500 Bee Picks to Parfums Christian Dior. The bees were inserted into the bouquets, collected in transparent pouches formed by Delta Neo’s Packaging division, to the surprise and delight of this prestigious brand’s customers. By ingeniously combining and juxtaposing the various fields of technical expertise we’ve come to perfectly master, we were able to meet the needs of our client and invent these one-of-a-kind Bee Picks.