Cork is amazing. Revered throughout history for its unique properties and association to wine bottles, it is today re-inventing itself in the world of merchandising.
Cork is a unique product – 100% natural sustainable and eco-friendy, it is a material that has in use since early days. It is impermeable, buoyant, elastic and fire resistant. It is also astonishingly versatile.
Cork is harvested from the bark of the cork oak, a noble tree with very special characteristics. The bark is extracted through a natural process that doesn’t harm the tree or the environment. The Cork oak enjoys great longevity (200 years) and cork has a great capacity of regeneration – it is renewable and every nine years, there is new bark to be removed.
The cork tree lies at the centre of a very sustainable ecosystem. It not only provides us with its bark, it also produces acorns – basic food for farm and wild animals.
Cork has many advantages when used as a material:
- it is very light
- impermeable to liquids and gases
- elastic and compressible
- thermal and acoustic
- provides excellent thermal and acoustic insulation
- smoulders rather than burns
- is very resistant to friction and abrasions
but it is above all it is 100% natural, fully recyclable and biodegradable – essential qualities for a sustainable society that wants to be less polluted and environmentally friendly.
