<p>Phenolic resin-impregnated aramid paper honeycombs are promising for engineering applications. However, most designs cannot provide sufficient load-bearing capacity, limiting their application as structural materials. Here, a novel re-entrant honeycomb structure is designed based on the expansion manufacturing method and 17 distinct honeycomb structures are derived from this structure using the Box-Behnken design method. Compression tests are performed on the re-entrant honeycomb to investigate its deformation mechanism and validate the finite element model. Numerical results from 17 honeycomb structures demonstrate that peak stress, plateau stress and energy absorption increase with increasing density and total side length, while decreasing with increasing angle of 1/4 unit cell. The analysis of collapse mechanisms reveal that the plastic deformation mode comprised both bending and membrane deformations. On this basis, an analytical model for predicting the mean compressive strength of honeycomb structures is developed using a simplified super folding element theory. The theoretical solution is in good agreement with the simulations. Furthermore, a multiobjective optimization method is used to efficiently optimize the structural parameters, resulting in the acquisition of optimal structural parameters that meet the load-bearing requirements. The yield strength, mean compressive strength and energy absorption of novel honeycomb are significantly higher than other popular honeycomb structures.</p>