“Considering that up to 80% of a product’s environmental cost are determined at the design stage”, designers have a critical role to play to reduce the environmental impact within our industries. There are far more ecologically sound materials to choose from compared to just a few years ago. Cork is a renewable and sustainable material, impermeable to liquid or gas, has many different applications and can be recycled (or up-cycled) into new products. 50% of all cork is harvested in Portugal under strict European guidelines. A tree can be harvested by law every nine years which is made possible due to the nature of the bark – it grows back! How many other materials can that be said about? For the design world cork can be bought as tiles, wall coverings, blocks, sheets, and fabric by the Jelinek group, a 150 year old company in the business of cork. The vertical company grows, harvests, and manufactures cork for numerous industries and applications. Unfortunately their “Bag-a-Cork” program went south this year, which collected and recycled wine stoppers but hopefully it will make a comeback in the future. The picture on the left is of cork flooring from Expanko that has developed interesting grain patterns and on the right the most beautiful shoe ever constructed from cork by Christian Louboutin.
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