WHY CORK
Cork is the outer bark of the cork oak, a millenary tree that grows in the Mediterranean basin.
Harvested every nine years without felling or harming the tree, cork is one of nature’s most extraordinary inventions. Because it’s a natural plant tissue, cork is biodegradable, and its exceptional ability to retain CO2 makes it a champion of sustainability, a powerful ally against climate change.
Its one-of-a-kind chemical structure makes of cork one of the most mind-blowing materials on earth. What makes cork special is what's inside: a gas mixture similar to air fills each cell, whose wall is coated with suberin. It's this incredible combination that gives cork its unique properties. Lightness, because cork is filled with gas, but also elasticity and compressibility, since cork is a combination of micro balloons, or micro pillows, gently pressing against each other.
Sustainable
The cork oak forests, Montado in Portuguese, are living ambassadors of sustainability and a driving force of sustainable development. They play a crucial role in the world’s ecological balance, fighting climate change and desertification and sustaining biodiversity.
Natural
Over 200 animal species and 135 plant species, some of them endangered, find their preferred habitat in the cork oak forest. Because it’s biologically rich and varied, but also extremely vulnerable, the cork oak forest is one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots, on a par with Amazonia and the African Savanna.
Biodegradable
‘Working with a material where waste does not exist, because it is fully recyclable, allow us to design freely and gives us the freedom to explore different geometries’
Cork naturally absorbs CO2, an ability that draws back to the origin at the forest.
