18 июля 2014 г.
Sustainability has been a hot topic for a good few years now and designers are increasingly looking for materials that have a lesser impact on the environment. Materials that are recycled, recyclable, or come from renewable sources are gaining in popularity and really starting to make their mark in design and architecture. Earlier this year, we consulted an innovation consultant and materials specialist who told us about 10 innovative materials to look out for in 2012 and some of these materials really are at the cutting edge of material development. However, there are also some sustainable materials that have been around for years and that have, until now, been somewhat overlooked. One of these materials is cork, an impermeable, buoyant, elastic and fire resistant material that is harvested from the cork oak forests of Southern Europe and North Africa. One company that knows all too well the benefits of cork is Corkway and we caught up with Tiago Cartageno who told us more about this versatile material and how it can be used in the home.
Corkway Torno Instant shelf bowl Cork : A Sustainable, Eco friendly, Innovative Material for the Home
Corkway is the largest online store specialized in the commercialization of cork products. How did it all get started?
The CorkWay Store began its activity after realizing that in Portugal (where the store is based) a lot of brands and designers were creating products using a very traditional raw material, cork. After realizing that, and also the potential of this raw material to make great high-quality products, we decided to select the best collections, not only from Portuguese Brands and Designers, but also from outside of Portugal, where in fact the majority of the products are also made with Portuguese cork.
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The majority of the world’s cork comes from Portugal where you are based. Why Portgual?
Portugal is a country that belongs to the Mediterranean Region. The Cork Oak Tree is a native tree and is responsible for the majority of the Mediterranean biodiversity, so we can find cork trees everywhere around here. Our country realized that the businesses around cork could have a great influence on the Portuguese economy as well as on the Mediterranean environment. Because our country is also a great wine producer, with some of the best wines in the world, and because cork is profoundly related to the wine stoppers, every one of these aspects came together to result in a very important business activity.
Portugal alone produces more cork than all the other cork producers in the world, so it is possible to realize the importance we give to this eco-friendly raw material.
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Cork has traditionally only really been used to make wine stoppers. What has fuelled its expansion into other markets?
When people talk about cork, the first thing it comes to mind is wine stoppers, but in fact cork is being used for every purpose we can imagine like flooring, walls, furniture, tableware, clothing, even NASA uses it for the isolation of their space shuttles. The industry is realizing that cork is a very resistant waterproof material and of course eco-friendly since its extraction doesn’t harm trees. So all these attributes take cork to another level of importance for every kind of application.
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Cork is becoming an increasingly popular material with the design community. Why is this?
Nowadays, the world is living an ecological paradigm. Schools and universities are teaching designers not only to create beautiful and functional objects, but also ethical and eco-friendly ones. So when designers learn about these concerns for the environment, they tend to select eco-friendly materials over standard ones, which is great because we are going towards a green path, and the designer as an object creator, has a special kind of influence in the world and in the community.
So when designers find cork, they find a perfect material for their creations, one that responds to all of their concerns because it is aesthetically beautiful, functional and eco-friendly.