“Honey bees! They’re everywhere.” That’s what Alice Roberts told her husband Matt Roberts while thinking of new flatware patterns for Sherrill Manufacturing brand Liberty Tabletop, in Sherrill, New York. Matt is the President and Co-Founder of the company and Alice is his “beautiful bride,” as he calls her, his wife of 33 years who also happens to be the Human Resources Manager.
By following her intuition, a bit of Pinterest and her love of shopping, Alice was on to something, and she was right! Last summer we designed the Honey Bee pattern and by fall it was almost ready. We released Honey Bee with our pre-sale starting in October and it took off!
When it comes to honey bees, for Alice it’s not just a fad or a style but a fond memory of her father, David Taylor. He was a beekeeper! As a little girl Alice grew up locally in Oneida, NY, watching her dad tend to his honey bees right on their own property. “I used to go to the honey house with him and watch him load the honey comb catcher [filled frame] into the honey extractor.” After this, Alice said the machine would spin and then when it was finished, he was able to cut the wax off. Alice’s father would make and sell honey, honeycomb and wax candles.
Three years ago Alice’s father passed away, but his legacy lives on in her family with their love of honey bees. “My sisters and I gravitated towards bees to commemorate his life. It’s just a nice way to keep his memory alive,” said Alice. She remembered her mom would bring her dad’s honey and sell it at work. The business was mostly word of mouth and they sold their honey locally in their area to friends and family. She also said that both her brother David and his daughter Maria are beekeepers as well.
After creating the Honey Bee design we wanted to do something that could help with honey bee research and also assist others in their beekeeping efforts. Liberty Tabletop is proud to announce that for every Honey Bee set sold, we will donate $1 to the Pollinator Health Research Fund at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Sciences, dedicated to promoting healthy pollinators for U.S. agriculture. Cornell University offers science and education programs for students and community members to continue the growing efforts of honey bee health and sustainability.
To learn more about the Liberty Tabletop Honey Bee flatware pattern, visit the Honey Bee flatware webpage at https://www.libertytabletop.com/product/honey-bee/.
