Designers are Clamoring for Cork—But Why?
Nearly every material has undergone a greenwashing campaign by this point. There are even versions of plastic that are now branded as “sustainable.” But lately, designers are embracing one surface that really does seem like the real deal: cork. Made from the outer bark of the cork oak tree, which can grow in Mediterranean climates for up to 200 years, the material is hand-harvested every nine years without harming the tree.
“It’s a rapidly renewable material and a powerful carbon sink,” explains Chelsea Minola, who runs the Washington-based studio Grain with her husband, James. “Due to the regeneration process, the more bark harvested from the tree, the more carbon is absorbed.” The studio’s latest line of cork furniture, a series of clover-shaped side and cocktail tables, debuted at New York’s Colony gallery in September.
Theirs was one of several cork-forward collections that we clocked this fall, as designers follow in the footsteps of pioneers like Tom Dixon, who has embraced the material in his furniture designs since 2017. Also in September, French designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance unveiled sculptural burnt cork furniture at Demisch Danant gallery in New York, and London-based designer Matilda Goad used the material to make lamps and urns with a classical twist. (“I wanted the material to be seen in a different, more elevated way,” she explains.) They’re all sourcing the material from Portugal, where nearly half of the globe’s cork is harvested.
