No wonder the beehive shape and resulting honeycomb pattern are hexagonal. A honeycomb of 100 grams can support a weight of up to 4 kilograms! It is also known that angles of 120 degrees are the strongest or most mechanically balanced. ‘It uses the least amount of material to hold the most weight’ and yet is very compact with no wasted space or minimum perimeter for maximum area. Mathematicians also say that the hexagon is nature’s most efficient shape. The hexagon is one of the strongest shape known. The hexagon is thought by some to be a icon of symbolism, of the universe’s inherent symbolic order, and of harmony and balance. Hexagons are everywhere in nature - in an insect’s eyes, marine animal skeletons, a snowflake, rock formations on the Giant’s Causeway and Devils Postpile, clouds over the North Pole of Saturn and, yes, even in a hexagonal honeycomb. Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee, 1924 We should needs have to offer the humble comb of honey.

The most perfect creation of the logic of life,

Has achieved, in the centre of his sphere, There is one masterpiece, the hexagonal cell,

Hexagon nature's perfect shape