THE GENESIS
How NestEgg Began
Before the NestEgg was hatched, it began as a simple project between father and son: building a birdhouse.
In an effort to reduce cutting processes and material waste—while still producing something functional and aesthetically pleasing—the desire to improve the birdhouse quietly took root.
While evaluating the external aesthetics, we were stopped in our tracks by a single thought:
Would a bird like this?
Wait, what do birds like?
What do birds actually look for in a home?
Those questions led us away from birdhouses entirely and toward nature itself—toward homes naturally formed and inhabited by birds.
What we found were not boxes, but cavities: formed inside deadwood trees through time, decay, weather, and life. These nesting spaces were rounded, enclosed, and protective, bearing no resemblance to the square, flat-sided structures we had come to accept as “normal” birdhouses.
That realization reframed the project entirely, forcing us to confront the discrepancy between nature-made homes and man-made ones.
Traditional birdhouses are not designed with the bird’s needs or preferences in mind. They are shaped by historic construction methods rather than biological function. The widespread use of wood planks imposed invisible constraints on both design and manufacturing, creating a kind of design tunnel vision.
We weren’t building birdhouses based on what birds seek. We were building them based on what was easy for us to cut, join, and assemble.
The irony became impossible to ignore.
For generations, humans have built birdhouses from wood—sourced from the very trees birds once nested in—while congratulating ourselves for “helping.” Yet as pollution, deforestation, and agricultural expansion accelerated, habitat loss became a primary driver of avian population decline. Despite good intentions, conventional birdhouses have largely failed to address the root of the problem.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Once we recognized that the material itself was dictating the design, the path forward became clear. If traditional materials imposed unnecessary constraints, those constraints could be bypassed by approaching the problem from a different material perspective.
That realization opened the door to a design that could finally align form, function, manufacturing, and environmental responsibility.
From that insight, the NecTerra™ material system was born—a proprietary blend of recycled, biodegradable fibers and natural binders that enables entirely handmade production with zero emissions.
Guided by university research and principles of biomimicry, the design replicates the spatial proportions, thermal regulation, and protection of natural nesting cavities. A modular entrance system further ensures that smaller birds have access to dedicated, species-appropriate homes—something increasingly difficult for them to find.
Until now.
