The engineers, scientists, and beekeepers behind Primal Bee

The founders

The people behind the patent

Primal Bee began with two lifelong friends — an engineer and a manufacturing expert — who kept losing colonies in traditional hives and decided to rebuild the hive around the biology of the bee.

Gianmario Riganti

Co-founder & Scientific Officer

A mechanical engineer and former university researcher, Gianmario is the inventor behind Primal Bee's patented thermodynamic hive and the author of its hive–colony–environment interaction theory.

  • Inventor on U.S. Patent No. 11,375,697 (thermodynamic hive system)
  • MEng, Mechanical Engineering — Politecnico di Milano
  • Former lecturer & researcher, SUPSI University of Applied Sciences, Lugano
  • Researcher at the DynaMat dynamic-materials laboratory, Trevano
  • 25+ years engineering across aeronautics, agri-food, and renewable energy

Alessandro Gamberoni

Co-founder & Technical Lead

Alessandro pairs decades of high-precision manufacturing with hands-on beekeeping, turning the thermodynamic design into a hive that can be produced at scale without compromising on performance.

  • Certified Master Beekeeper
  • High-precision manufacturing & machine-tool consultant
  • Aerospace & marine engineering programs at Leonardo Helicopters, Luna Rossa (America's Cup), and GE Turbine Systems
  • Leads production engineering and material selection for the hive system
Advisors & contributors

The scientists and writers behind our research

From entomology to editorial, the people who pressure-test our claims and turn field data into guidance beekeepers can use.

Dr. Jason Graham

Entomologist & educator

Specializes in honey bee and native bee conservation biology, ecology, and nest dynamics — grounding the hive's design in real colony behavior.

Magda Cychowski

Beekeeping writer & content lead

Author of the majority of the Primal Bee blog, translating field research and engineering into practical guidance for beekeepers.

Compare the systems side by side.