Our Hivers are an eclectic bunch of awesome individuals from all walks of life and corners of the globe. They are open-minded professionals, entrepreneurs and digital nomads who share a lust for living well. To give you a little more insight on the people in your future shared living space, we interviewed one of our residents – Iva.
Hi. My name is Iva, I am originally from Czech Republic and I moved to Oxfordshire 3 years ago. I lived in several different places before joining B-hive Living, but none of them were as nice!My biggest passion is traveling and my dream is to travel all around the world. I also like hiking, swimming and cycling. I normally spend my free time with my partner, my friends or learning new things. Sometimes I also need my space and silent space where I can enjoy reading a book.
Have you lived in a shared living space before? What made you choose coliving/our Hives as your home?
I lived in share houses with friends before, but none of my previous experience is comparable as with B-Hive Living. The reason why I chose this place is because of the beautiful stylised modern environment, but also because I felt at home here from the first moment I walked in!
How would you describe coliving as opposed to other types of accommodation you previously experienced?
In coliving what matters is not just the space, but the people you live with. The residents in my Hive are really awesome people from all around the world (Italy, Spain, South Africa, Taiwan, Hungary), they bring with them lots of different experiences and opportunities to learn about a new culture. They all make my stay here very special. They are not just my friends; they are my B-Hive family.
What is your favourite part of your Hive home and why?
Too many to choose from! I like the spacious kitchen where we can all cook together, even at the same time. The dining room is another winner for me as it’s so versatile, allowing me to enjoy a meal study or just chill in the same place.It overlooks the garden and it has plenty of natural light. I also enjoy the garden where I can relax with a cup of coffee or tea or preparing the next barbecue with my other Hivemates! Our barbecue season has already started! Finally, I love the stylish and modern furniture throughout the house.
In your Hive space you are more…
Coffee or Tea? Both
Quiet housemate or social animal? Both again
More at your room or a particular common area? I vote for kitchen
How would describe your “Hivemates”? What difference did they make to your life?
The best thing about living in my Hive are the great people I live with without compromising my ability for enjoying my own private space and quiet moments. I’ve also cheered the opportunity to strike a good balance between my social time with my Hivemates and spending time at the cosiness and warmth of my private en-suite room with a super spacious bathroom. I definitely think everyone can find what they need in this type of shared living space.
What’s the most unexpected thing you discovered about yourself or coliving being in a Hive?
Well, I have to say I surprised myself and my housemates with my “amazing” karaoke performance the other night. Actually we surprised each other 😀
Would you recommend B-Hive Living to a friend? Why?
I would recommend B-Hive Living to everyone and especially to people who have decided to live on their own for the first time in a different country. Shared living with B-Hive Living make this first step a lot easier and it helps to build autonomy without compromising the social life or without feeling isolated living on our own in a different country.
B-Hive Living is a multi-award winning coliving brand, operator and asset manager of coliving properties with a strong track record of best-in-class design, investment and management practices. Our mission is to empower professional renters to lead a more connected, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle through co-living. This relentless focus on our residents’ well-being ensures a sustained demand wherever we operate.
Our Hivers are an eclectic bunch of awesome individuals from all walks of life and corners of the globe. They are open-minded professionals, entrepreneurs and digital nomads who share a lust for living well. To give you a little more insight on who your actual potential shared housing flatmates are, we interviewed one of our residents – Katie.
My name is Katie, I am 29 years old, born and raised in lovely Bicester in Oxfordshire (UK). I have lived and studied in this area my whole life. I am a qualified adult nurse, socialiser enthusiast and organiser (much to my housemates’ detriment prior to their 8AM coffee run).
My huge passion is creating a positive, outgoing atmosphere and I enjoy bringing this out in the people around me, regardless of their age. I have been known to be waltzing around my 80-year-old patient’s living room! Instilled in me is a strong value for caring which often translate in cooking and baking for people around me (keeping up the pretence to my community manager that this is ‘healthy cooking’ merely by owning all the Joe Wicks books and displaying them on the kitchen side and always wearing active wear). I have roped my housemates into weekly bake-off night. My interests also include ballroom and latin dancing. I take part each year in a competition to raise money for local charities and have recently completed two half marathons. I am always up for a new challenge and dragging everyone around me along for the journey!
Have you lived in shared housing space before? What made you choose our Hives as your home?
Before joining B-Hive Living I lived with my sister, Emily who also now lives in the same Hive as me. During my very first viewing of the Hive, following viewings of several other shared housing properties around Bicester, I knew this was the place I wanted to live! The modern interior and private but shared housing meant that I could have my own space as well as socialise and make new connections and friends. The technological advantages and allocated spaces in communal areas meant I could have security and ease!
How would you describe coliving as opposed to other types of accommodation you have experienced?
Coliving has meant that I can share my home with individuals around the same age as me, as well as other professionals with a real wide variety of experience, knowledge and skills! Coliving is much more than sharing a house. We have created our own little family but we also can enjoy our own private rooms and have visitors etc.
What is your favourite part of your Hive home and why?
My favourite part of the Hive is the kitchen area. You can always guarantee a cooking buddy, someone to have a cup of tea with and share your day. In my case it’s mostly assessing what everyone else is having for dinner and ‘trying’ their food. Each week one person cooks. This started off as a nice idea to get everyone together once a week and to test out our Mary Berry recipes whilst Bake Off was on. This has now turned into a ritual and the competitive pressure is on each week! Someone even took half a day off work (no names mentioned) to impress with their culinary skills! Much to my waistline’s detriment there is always a reason to have a cake or some delicious treats from overseas – definitely my favourite place in the Hive.
In your Hive space are you more…
Coffee or tea?
Both! Coffee in the AM
Quiet House mate or social animal?
100% social
More at your room or common area?
Bit of both!
How would you describe your ‘Hivemates’? What difference did they make to your life?
Lifelong friends! As reigning beer pong champions my Hive housemates have been supportive, fun and hilarious! I have experienced so much from living here. I’ve been taught how to play guitar and we are planning the next best band in Bicester (sceptical on the vocalist though). I’ve been able to learn parts of Polish and Greek culture (including food, and some words!), we have celebrated birthdays, occupied dancefloors, created a quiz team, and became the best cooks ever! We also plan to visit Athens this year (where one of the Hive residents is from), so this has opened up different opportunities to me, all alongside living in my pyjamas and never being judged!
What’s the most unexpected thing you discovered about yourself living in a Hive?
I have realised that you can learn so much from connecting with others with different backgrounds, experience and skills. I have also learnt that I am a technophobe. But thanks to my house mates this has improved!
Would you recommend B Hive Living to a friend?
I would recommend B- Hive Living to a friend, I have felt a real sense of heart-warming community and I have had a positive experience due to the people I have lived with. There is a great social benefit to be gained from this way of living. The Hive Team would always strive to resolve issues – even taking climbing lessons!
B-Hive Living is a multi-award winning coliving brand, operator and asset manager of coliving properties with a strong track record of best-in-class design, investment and management practices. Our mission is to empower professional renters to lead a more connected, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle through co-living. This relentless focus on our residents’ well-being ensures a sustained demand wherever we operate.
Hi everyone! I am Anton, originally from one of the picturesque Baltic States called Latvia. I have been living, working and studying in the UK almost half of my life, in Oxford, Warwick and London. My passions are lifelong learning and self-development. I enjoy wood carving, chi-gong, playing ancient persian instruments, myth busting, lifehacking, solving logic and math puzzles, creating bespoke driving routes with my family and taking them there. I’m currently responsible for delivering great coliving experience to B-Hive Living residents.
You have worked in both the hotel industry and coliving. What do you find to be the key differences in coliving versus the hotel industry?
In both hotels and coliving customers (or Residents as we called them @B-Hive) expect comfort, personalized customer service, enhanced facilities, and great decor. But if I have to summarise the main differences I would say:
Convenience vs. Participation: typically, in a hotel guests expect convenience, they want to be served. While in coliving residents expect participation.
Scale vs. Intimacy: in hotels people prefer anonymity, they don’t mind not to know people around them. While in coliving intimacy is key. Residents want to know everyone.
Transience vs. Belonging: Hotel customers come and go daily. I could hardly imagine how to achieve such a strong and fascinating community bond in a hotel type of environment, as we have been creating between our coliving residents.
What is it like to be a community manager at B-Hive Living? What’s the typical day like as a community manager?
As a community manager I am responsible to deliver the Hive’s coliving experience. I am the day to day point of contact with our Residents for everything they need in the Hive, from responding to maintenance issues requests, coordinating contractors, organizing the next community social event. It is my responsibility to ensure our maintenance team respond to our Residents’ request quickly and effectively. I also enjoy spending time getting to know our Residents personally and develop a relationship with them. Our Residents comes from all walks of life. It’s fascinating and enriching for me to get to know them and their different experiences.
What would be your top three recommendations for someone wanting to work as a community manager?
My top three recommendations would be to learn the foundations of great customer service, become familiar with the solutions you can provide to various property maintenance issues, and create a strong team who will help you to deliver the experience. And most importantly, to be in a constant dialogue with residents: their feedback and advice is so valuable to continuously improve the coliving experience.
How would you describe the B-Hive living community to someone wanting to join our Hives? What makes it special?
What I have heard on several occasions is that living in the Hive community is the best thing that happened in the lives of so many of our Residents. It starts with recruiting the right people during our vetting process. On average out of 25 online enquiries, around 7 people are selected for a viewing and only one then gets selected to join one of our Hives. Characteristics such as positive attitude, outgoing and friendly personality, desire to socialize and contribute to our community are key components of our vetting process.
But the experience is also the result of working with our partners in providing innovative smart home technology, bringing creativity and convenience in each space. And working with local artists and craftsmen enable us to add a local touch to each of the Hive. If you are looking for a vibrant community of people from all walks of life who strive for a purposeful life of unlimited possibilities we are for you!
Given you are a local, what are your top tips about Oxfordshire for someone moving in the area? What are the must see?
Oxford has always been a great scene for both modern, jazz and classical music, so I constantly look out for gigs and concerts in O2 and Bullingdon arms, or Sheldonian Theatre. There is a great website dailyinfo.co.uk that regularly updates these listings. For eating out, my favourite place is the rooftop terrace of the Westgate Shopping Centre with around 10 restaurants and bars of an outstanding quality to match various taste preferences. I can’t wait when my favourite Thai restaurant the Giggling Squid opens in Walton Street. For best cocktails I would definitely recommend go to Raoul’s off the Little Clarendon Street in Oxford. Apparently, they have been awarded the world’s top 50 rating of cocktail bars by Times. Also, do not miss out on the opportunity to have a great coliving experience in the area!
My next suggestion might sound very obvious, but by all means visit the ancient campus of the famous University of Oxford, which was there before the Aztec Empire and Genghis Khan, and sign up for one of the in-depth guided 1/ 2 hours tours.
For a great day outdoors Port Meadow, Wolvercote (pop in to the historic Trout Inn or The Perch Pub when you are there), Christ Church Meadow, Blenheim Palace or the Cotswolds are stunning destinations. Don’t miss in the Cotswolds little places like Burford, Daylesford Barn, Bibury, Whitney and Worton Organic Garden, where the farm owner David often sets the classical music to the maximum volume, and serves vegetables to his customers who are standing there astonished by David’s artistic imitation as if he was conducting his symphonic orchestra with greatest passion.
B-Hive Living is a multi-award winning coliving brand, operator and asset manager of coliving properties with a strong track record of best-in-class design, investment and management practices. Our mission is to empower professional renters to lead a more connected, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle through co-living. This relentless focus on our residents’ well-being ensures a sustained demand wherever we operate.
Hello! My name is Gabriel, I am a Brazilian/Portuguese with a passion for understanding and connecting natural and social ecology. I believe nature can help us discover new ways of living together, also in coliving homes, and my mission is to support rural and urban communities to thrive. Doing sports always makes me feel better, specially at a pristine natural spot, and with my favorite tunes playing in my earphones. I also love to discover new cultures and understand the potential that human beings have to collaborate.
Where is your passion for coliving coming from? Tell us your story.
After graduating I felt I wasn’t creating enough positive impact for society. That inspired me to create Favela Verde, an NGO that had the mission to harmonize the transition of two very different ecosystems in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The urban ecosystem – represented by the biggest slum in Latin America “Favela da Rocinha”, and the natural ecosystem – represented by one of the world’s largest urban forests, “Parque Nacional da Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro. Spending so much time in the slums made me realize the importance of community, the value it adds to the social fabric and the strength it provides to overcome even the worst deprivations. “Together we are stronger” – that was the motto.
Fast forward this passion for community has led me on a journey all the way to London where I worked at the world’s largest coliving building as a community facilitator. There, I had at my disposal all the physical infrastructure that one could possibly want to engage a community, but the sense of community was just not there. This experience has trigged a defining question in my head that has become a life quest: “What is necessary for a community to thrive”? In a building with 600+ people, from all over the world, with different cultures, agendas, intentions and values, can we actually find a common denominator that glue or holds the community together?
As an ecologist, I can say that we humans are the “ultimate social animal”. Our whole evolution has been based on our ability to connect, communicate and be empathetic towards each other. That’s arguably the very reason why we weren’t extinct thousands of years ago by predators since we could rely on our innate ability to care for each other. Greater urbanization has led us to continuously grow the size of our settlements and it simply doesn’t work for us. We need smaller spaces to be able to develop meaningful connections, meeting and interacting with people on a deeper level so that we can ultimately achieve a healthier lifestyle. A great example is London – a massive settlement with virtually infinite chances and spaces to meet new people, but where loneliness is rife.
I strongly believe coliving is the key for us to regain to reconnect in the mist of ever-greater urbanization. It gives us the opportunity to build and curate a community with a size that can translate into a healthier lifestyle. We are biologically designed to cope with a maximum of 150 meaningful connections.
Your passion is around people and communities. What in your view makes a great community and what do you need to foster a brilliant community experience?
For me it all comes back to trust. Trust is the main glue that holds the social fabric together. Without trust in the community we fall on this concept called “social trap”, coined by John Platt in the 1970’s. It can be described as a situation in which a group of people act to obtain short-term individual gains, which in the long run lead to a loss for the group as a whole. My mission is to empower communities to be able to grow and maintain their trust levels, and to design and implement spaces and experiences that will foster those meaningful connections. Finally it’s important that we accept that diversity is an invaluable asset in each and every space while ensuring people beliefs and identity are respect and they can be themselves.
What are your tips when it comes to design of coliving homes aligned to how communities and people want to live?
As a coliving operator or professional, you need to make an effort to get to know your community intimately. The customer journey should be designed and implemented with care and integrity. There’s no one-size fits all in this game. People should be at the heart of everything you do. By thoroughly exploring the pains and the gains of your potential residents for each development you are able to see through their eyes. If you put yourself in their shoes, you are more likely to create coliving homes where residents can be themselves. When people feel they can fully express themselves, they feel supported to reach their fullest potential. In that sense I’m very happy to collaborate with B-Hive Living, as I truly believe you are definitely aiming for nothing less.
What do you see as the main trends in coliving, especially for the younger generation?
I really believe that technology plays a pivotal role for the success of this new way of living. As you know it’s is not a new concept, people have been living together since prehistoric times. But I believe that it’s the first time in history we have the resources to be able to design “smart” homes in which we give people a great deal of autonomy to literally to look after their health, convenience and lifestyle.
I think that the new frontier for coliving is to explore the potential of technology fully. Today we can help personalize our individual coliving homes from circadian lightning to seasonal room temperature, and create bespoke common areas to accommodate the needs of different types of people, with different drives and personalities. I see how B-Hive Living has been working on this direction, using biophilic design and leveraging technology to allow their residents to customize their room temperatures and etc and this is refreshing.
When it comes to measuring the impact of coliving homes, what is important to measure and why?
I believe that in coliving there are three different systems interconnected and hence the need to take a system thinking approach. Firstly, we have the impact of the user experience. Here some topics to be explored are the health and well-being of the user/community, access to information and ways to reduce their ecological footprint.
The second level is building coliving homes itself. Here this is more connected to the environmental impact and carbon emission per space. It’s important that we look at issues such as what kind of materials are being used in the construction, what is the waste management strategy and the energy consumption levels.
And finally, there’s the external community level that it’s unfortunately often neglected. I really believe on the potential coliving has to bring a different level of social and human capital to a given area. For that to happen, a solid and holistic public engagement strategy must be developed and implemented since the conception of the project. Only with the integration of the internal & external community we are able to reap the whole spectrum of benefits this new way of living can provide to our cities.
Given what you’ve learned working in coliving so far, what is your best advice for residents who wish to make the most of their coliving experience?
Empathy is the key. Be open to explore new ways to relate to each other. You might not like everyone straightaway, but learning to respect and accept the differences from the outset will make you question some old assumptions and beliefs you might have. This is the time to unite, collaborate, exchange and coliving can help us massively to do that.
What is your hope for coliving in the present? And the future?
My hope is that coliving can be seen as a new way of engaging urban and rural communities. And that the new players entering the market would do that because they see that potential to transform society rather than just following the next trend. Open-source! In the future I would love to see more and more collaboration amongst the coliving developers and operators, where no one has to reinvent the wheel again and again, and the concept can be developed faster and more efficiently, supporting more and more people to connect, collaborate, and support the change we need to see in the world. Also, I would like to see the levels of depression and loneliness dropping as more and more people opt for coliving.
B-Hive Living is a multi-award winning coliving brand, operator and asset manager of coliving properties with a strong track record of best-in-class design, investment and management practices. Our mission is to empower professional renters to lead a more connected, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle through co-living. This relentless focus on our residents’ well-being ensures a sustained demand wherever we operate.
Our Hivers are an eclectic bunch of awesome individuals from all walks of life and corners of the globe. They are open-minded professionals, entrepreneurs and digital nomads who share a lust for living well. To give you a little more insight on your potential coliving social life, we interviewed one of our residents – Andrea.
Hi! I’m Andrea and I am a Formula 1 Engineer for Renault. I come from Italy and my passions are cooking, music, going out with friends and travelling.
2. Before joining us, had you lived in a shared-living space before and what made you choose coliving/our Hives as your home?
Before moving into our Hive I used to live in Pisa (Tuscany, Italy) with one of my best friends. I chose B-Hive Living when I relocated to Oxfordshire to join the Renault F1 Team. B-Hive Living was great for me for two main reasons. First of all, the Hive Homes are designed with attention to details and I particularly like the great furniture used to decorate and enhance the experience in each of the spaces. Secondly, I immediately liked the idea of sharing the space with other young professionals with a similar age, but different backgrounds, nationalities and experiences. The coliving social life is great!
3. How would you describe coliving as opposed to other types of accommodation you previously experienced?
When I was in Italy I either lived with my parents, alone, or with my best friend. I think that sharing a house with other people is really nice as you discover other cultures and make new friends. Especially when you move to a new country where you don’t not know anyone around, you can end up feeling quite isolated and lonely. In this sense, joining a Hive was the perfect antidote. I had the chance to make new great friends straightaway and did not feel lonely at all. My Hivemates became my second family away from home. I really appreciate that they made me feel at home as soon as I joined our place.
4. What is your favourite part of your Hive home and why?
I really like the common areas in our Hive: we have a beautiful conservatory and a living room that we constantly use to socialise, relax and get plenty of natural light. There is a lot of space for dinners with friends, relaxing, or just watching a movie.
5. In your Hive space you are more…
Coffee or Tea?
Coffee as most Italians!!
Quiet housemate or social animal?
Quite social, I like doing things together with the other residents.
More at your room or a particular common area?
I enjoy my own space but I always spend time with the other housemates whenever possible.
6. How would describe your “Hivemates” and what difference did they make to your life?
My Hivemates are super nice, friendly and diverse. Some of them are now close friends. They are a pretty international bunch from several nationalities including Spain, Taiwan, Italy, Czech Republic and Hungary.
7. What’s the most unexpected thing you found about yourself or coliving being in a Hive?
I was pleasantly surprised by how lots of different cultures can come together and share the same space. There are compromises, as everyone is different, but also a lot to discover from each other.
8. Would you recommend B-Hive Living to a friend? Why?
Definitely, especially if you are moving to a different country as it is the quickest way to make new friends and feel part of the community. It’s also a convenient solution: you don’t need to worry about utility bills, setting up contracts (like for your TV, Internet, …). All bills are included in your monthly rent and you can have peace of mind that at the end of the month there are no surprises on your expenses.
Part of our mission is to celebrate creativity while building inspiring coliving homes. Our Hives are the result of a plethora of collaborations with an eclectic mix of inquisitive artists, dreamers and crafts people in art, architecture, design or technology that share our ethos. We wish to give credit to Hayley and Steve from F&D (Father & Daughter), providing decorating services in our homes with precision and style.
1. Hi Hayley, Hi Steve! How did Father & Daughter start? Tell us your story.
Father & Daughter Painting and Decorating Services started when we both realised we wanted a change in our careers and had a very similar passion for art and design. Before starting our business, Steve (my dad) was an agricultural farmer for 43 years with some experience in properties. I (Hayley) had been in retail for 12 years, working as a Visual Merchandiser. I had an eye for product placement and loved remodelling and creating new designed spaces. Our work ethos and main passion is to transform a space from what someone could see as uninteresting into something very special. We also love the idea of being our own bosses, knowing that we can push ourselves as far as we want, with no one putting any limitations on us.
2. What do you like the most about working with your dad or daughter?
The best thing about working with my Dad is that he creates a great atmosphere with his positive attitude towards our work and we both enjoy bouncing ideas off one another. We also have our own job roles within painting and decorating which allow our work to flow very nicely.
I (Steve) love how self-motivated Hayley is, really pushes us as a team to keep going to the best of our abilities. Her ideas and concepts always seem to merge into mine creating harmonised decorative space or a design/art piece.
3. What are your favourite types of decorations/ painting? What do you like to do the most?
We love to keep up with different styles and techniques, trying new things in our spare time. Painting and drawing up new ideas help us to progress further in our skills.
One style that we are currently enjoying is geometric patterned feature walls. We have done many pieces that show different forms of this concept idea. We love how modern and on trend the geometric pattern is and have experimented in many ways for clients and self-art projects.
4. What impact you expect your work to have on the lives of our Hive residents?
We hope that the Hive residents enjoy the high quality of decorations we created in each Hive and help give them a positive outlook toward their living space. The colours and shapes on all feature walls are on trend and can add a modern feel to their lifestyle.
5. How was for you the experience of working with B-Hive Living, bringing to life new coliving spaces?
It was very fulfilling seeing the projects from beginning to end. B-Hive vision for coliving was focussed on the wellbeing of their residents, we couldn’t be happier to be part of the projects and help the B-Hive Living team bring them to life. It really got us motivated watching the process and contribution of all the talented individuals putting their particular skills into each stage and transforming B-Hive Living vision into reality.
6. What inspires and drives you to do what you do these days?
Our inspiration for decorating services comes from all kinds of sources. Something as simple as Pinterest and Instagram, or interior design magazines and art galleries. These different inspirations allow us to follow other creative minds, see new and upcoming decorating techniques, spark ideas in our minds and let us understand what is on trend at that time. Meeting new people and exploring different cultures plays a big part to colour choices, styles and techniques of the painting and decorating that we produce too.
7. Being a local what do you like the most about Bicester and Oxfordshire? What are your top tips for people moving in the area?
The location is great for getting around and seeing the great city of London (only 45 min away by train!) or Oxford which is also a very short bus or train journey away (15 min). Oxfordshire has some amazing galleries and museums that you can visit. You can also find different types of entertainment such as cinema, crazy golf, escape rooms, theatre showings etc. There are many restaurants and shops too. Our favourite part is the surroundings with all the stunning architecture throughout Oxford, really picturesque! If you are in Bicester make sure you pop for a drink at The Angel, this pub dates from 1674 and offers over 60 different gins and local craft ales!
Part of the mission of B-Hive Living is to celebrate creativity while building inspiring coliving homes. Our Hives are the result of a plethora of collaborations with an eclectic mix of inquisitive artists, dreamers and crafts people in art, architecture, design or technology that share our ethos.
Our Hivers are an eclectic bunch of awesome individuals from all walks of life and corners of the globe. They are open-minded professionals, entrepreneurs and digital nomads who share a lust for living well. To give you a little more insight on who your actual potential shared living mates are, we interviewed one of our residents – Matyas.
Hello! I am Matyas from Hungary. I moved to England in January 2018 to work for one of the top motorsport companies. My hobby is my job and my job is my hobby. I love everything related to cars and motorsport. On my free time I am on a racetrack or thinking to go there.
2. Before joining us, had you lived in a shared living space before and what made you choose coliving/our Hives as your home?
In the past 6 years I have been living in shared living houses, some of them were great others not too nice. I joined B-Hive Living because I wanted to join a community of people, make new friends and be part of many social activities.
3. How would you describe coliving as opposed to other types of accommodation you previously experienced?
Coliving offers more than just a room. It is a place where you make friends, a place that makes your truly feel at home. Previously I was living in places where we barely knew each other. While at B-Hive I feel I have a second home.
4. What is your favourite part of your Hive home and why?
My favourite part of our Hive Home is the garden. I love being hands down in the garden, preparing the barbecue and chilling on our sun loungers. We had a very special summer with the other Hive Residents, spending lots of dinners outside, cooking, listening to music and just chilling together.
5. In your Hive space you are more…
Coffee or Tea? Both, when in trouble I go with Red Bull!
Quiet housemate or social animal? Depends on the situation.
More at your room or a particular common area? When the sun is shining you know you can find me at the barbecue.
6. How would describe your “Hivemates” and what difference did they make to your life?
All the people living in our Hive Home are super friendly and they really made my move to the UK much easier than I expected. I am very thankful for that.
7. What’s the most unexpected thing you found about yourself living in a Hive?
I am quite surprised of how many cooking skills I can pick up from the other residents. In our Hive we have people from Italy, Spain, Taiwan, UK and I very much enjoyed cooking together, organizing dinners and learning to cook food from their countries.
8. Would you recommend B-Hive Living to a friend? Why?
I would recommend B-Hive to everyone for many-many reasons.
B-Hive Living creates very nice shared living houses, designed around people’s needs and with great facilities. Every room is super nice, stylized and spacious. We have fully equipped kitchens with everything we need for community living. Indoor communal areas are designed with the aim of bringing nature and light inside the house, like our conservatory. And every house has plenty of outdoor space, big gardens and BBQ facilities. You can even find bike storage if needed.
Of course things can go wrong sometimes but B-Hive is very quick to solve all the issues.
Another reason why I would recommend B-Hive Living is the community. You will meet housemates from different backgrounds and different countries, but I appreciated the fact that they are all around my age and sharing similar life stages.
You will be part of a community of interesting people and we often organize social events with residents from other Hive houses as well.
The Team at B-Hive is great, always available for a chat and always striving to make things even better.
@photocredit: SNAPZ PHOTO
B-Hive Living is a multi-award winning coliving brand, operator and asset manager of coliving properties with a strong track record of best-in-class design, investment and management practices. Our mission is to empower professional renters to lead a more connected, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle through co-living. This relentless focus on our residents’ well-being ensures a sustained demand wherever we operate.
Part of our mission is to celebrate creativity while building inspiring coliving homes. Our Hives are the result of a plethora of collaborations with an eclectic mix of inquisitive artists, dreamers and crafts people in art, architecture, design or technology that share our ethos. We wish to give credit to Curtis Hylton muralist whose gift and invaluable contributions make our Hive special.
1. When did you do your first mural?
I must have painted my first mural in 2014, it was for a recruitment office in Portsmouth. I gained experience painting commercial and domestic murals and I had the pleasure of working alongside some of the country top artists creating work for in a variety of style for different clients.
2. What are some of your earliest artistic memories?
My memories go back to when I was a kid. I would spend hours copying cartoons from the Beano and Dandy comics. Do you remember them?
3. Can you describe what is like for you to be a professional graffiti artist?
Love it! Every job is different which is great in more than one way. Not only I get to go to different places and paint different things from week to week, but it also give me a chance to develop and experiment with new ideas.
4. How has your art evolved throughout the years?
My work is evolving continuously. My technique and painting methods have evolved through experimentation and different mediums. The theme of my work has grown to be heavily influenced by nature and our connection to it.
5. What inspires and drives you to do what you do these days?
What inspires me is learning new things, meeting new people and going to different places. Anything botanical inspires me, nature is beautiful and I just want to paint it everyday! My paintings tend to be a mix of flowers merged with birds and other animals, their wings and bodies etc are intertwined with petals and leaves, like a sort of natural balance. However the current environment our world is in has also begun to seep and reflect in my work, with issues of plastic waste etc being highlighted.
6. What impact you expect your art to have on the lives of our Hive residents?
I hope the guys enjoy it! I hope my art will give them some colour and inspiration in the coming grey months and inspire their creativity.
7. What’s your biggest hope for the role of graffiti in art scene and society at large?
It’s refreshing to see graffiti as a global scene growing continuously, as well as becoming an accepted art form. Public street-art projects are great for all generations, they stimulate and inspire communities.
8. What’s ahead?
To continue travelling with it, meet new people and share my work with them. Bigger projects and bigger collaborations!
Part of the mission of B-Hive Living is to celebrate creativity while building inspiring coliving homes. Our Hives are the result of a plethora of collaborations with an eclectic mix of inquisitive artists, dreamers and crafts people in art, architecture, design or technology that share our ethos.
Our Hivers are an eclectic bunch of awesome individuals from all walks of life and corners of the globe. They are open-minded professionals, entrepreneurs and digital nomads who share a lust for living well. To give you a little more insight on who your actual potential Hivemates are, we interviewed one of our residents – Gianna.
Hi, My name is Gianna, and Yi Ching Li is my Chinese name. I come from Taiwan, Taipei. My study major was Hospitality, but I now work in fashion retail. My passion is baking and cooking. I love sharing food while socialising with other people.
2. Before joining us, had you lived in a shared-living space before and what made you choose coliving/our Hives as your home?
Before joining B-Hive Living, I had shared a house with a family in New Zealand when I was in high school. But, it was a very different context. At B-Hive, I share our Hive with other professionals from around the world. From the outset, I’ve loved how different cultures and people came together under one roof and often shared their stories and traditions including cooking around the table. That’s why I chose and love the Hive concept.
3. How would you describe coliving as opposed to other types of accommodation you previously experienced?
I would say Hives are particularly suitable to young professionals. But, the main thing in coliving for me is the opportunity to be part of an international community of awesome people with a positive outlook on life. It has been priceless!
4. What is your favourite part of your Hive home and why?
I love our spacious kitchen and how our cutlery is so neat and complete. You can tell I love cooking, right! But, most of all, I can’t get enough of our conservatory, which is where I enjoy my breakfast under the sun everyday and surrounded by nature. It’s so peaceful and reminds me of back home.
5. In your Hive space you are more…
Coffee or Tea?
I would say Coffee.
Quiet housemate or social animal?
It depends, sometimes I love to talk but if I am too tired after work I’ll surely be the quiet one.
More at your room or a particular common area?
If there is more people at home I love socialising in the common areas.
6. How would describe your “Hivemates” and what difference did they make to your life?
My Hivemates are all very nice, polite and smart. But, above all, I love the fact that they all have a positive outlook on life. We are both housemates and friends since we all deeply respect each other. They’ve always made me feel very comfortable around them so my Hive really felt like home.
7. What’s the most unexpected thing you found about yourself or coliving being in a Hive?
I think it’s caring and sharing. It’s like living with friends but my Hivemates have been more than that. They’ve been a family to me – particularly since I am living abroad away from friends and family. That’s why every time I come back from traveling I like to bring them treats!
8. Would you recommend B-Hive Living to a friend? Why?
Yes, I would. Our Hive is both comfortable and stylish. Everyone has their own private bathroom and the B-Hive team is super nice and organised.
B-Hive Living is a multi-award winning coliving brand, operator and asset manager of coliving properties with a strong track record of best-in-class design, investment and management practices. Our mission is to empower professional renters to lead a more connected, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle through co-living. This relentless focus on our residents’ well-being ensures a sustained demand wherever we operate.
Part of our mission is to celebrate creativity while building inspiring coliving homes. Our Hives are the result of a plethora of collaborations with an eclectic mix of inquisitive artists, dreamers and crafts people in art, architecture, design or technology that share our ethos. We wish to give credit to Daniel Pereira – the woodcraft artist whose gift and invaluable contributions make our Hives special.
When did you do your first woodcraft?
My first woodcraft was when I was about 10 years old. I was on holiday at my uncle’s farm. He was building a ladder out of an old eucalyptus tree. I found it amazing and started to do my own mini version. In all fairness, it didn’t go that well and I gave up half way the project.
What are some of your earliest memories of woodcraft?
My first memories are not really of woodcraft, but of going to the forest with my dad and collecting firewood for our house. I would play in the woods wile my dad was collecting and cutting firewood. Nowadays, every time that I start cutting a piece of wood that memory always comes back. Just like back then I feel as if its play time again.
What made you decide to work with recycled wood?
I’ve started using reclaimed/ recycled wood because I truly believe that nature is very important to us and we should never not loose sight that wood is a limited resource.
Therefore, by using reclaimed wood, I hope to help nature by raising awareness of recycling and how important it is. I also wish to make a statement that reclaimed wood can be a better alternative as it can bring quality and history together.
How has your woodcraft art evolved throughout the years?
Woodcraft is like any other art form. The more you create the easier it become for you to see artistic potential in any old piece of wood. In many ways, my art has evolved around the needs of my costumers and the freedom they gave me to bring my vision into those projects.
What are your favourite types of wood and woodcraft to work with and why?
My favourite type of wood is walnut and my favourite woodcraft technique is carving. I love every aspect of it, from going out to look for a specific piece of wood to the carving itself. It gives you a chance to be fully involved with the wood and let your creativity work for you.
What impact do you expect your woodcraft to have on the lives of our Hive residents?
I would like to believe that by creating something that is both beautiful and functional from reclaimed materials improve the lives of Hive residents. My goal is not only to bridge the gap between quality and comfort, but also to let people sense the history and possibilities with reclaimed material.
What inspires and drives you to be a woodcraft artist these days?
What drives and inspires me the most in doing this work is the satisfaction it brings me. When you love something and you are lucky enough to do it, you just want to do it whenever you have a chance. It becomes second nature and things just flow from there.
What’s ahead?
Well, I’m not sure yet. It has been a very interesting adventure so far and it looks like more excitement lies ahead. Growing the business and personally is for sure my main goals. As a woodcraft artist there is no limit to what’s possible while the flame to create still burns inside you. So only the future will tell. The only certainty is that fun times creating my art is guaranteed.
Part of the mission of B-Hive Living is to celebrate creativity while building inspiring coliving homes. Our Hives are the result of a plethora of collaborations with an eclectic mix of inquisitive artists, dreamers and crafts people in art, architecture, design or technology that share our ethos.
