Cork.
At the moment there is simply no getting away from it.
A couple of weeks ago Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec unveiled their Cork Desk for Vitra at Orgatec.
Back in April we had Cover by Daphna Laurens at Dutch Invertuals in Milan.
And last year at Dutch Design Week we marvelled at Tiago Sá da Costa's Corkmatters Lamp exhibited as part of the Made Out Portugal #4 show.
Might not sound like much, but given that before Eindhoven 2011 the last serious cork product we can remember seeing was in the spring of '78: it's a veritable flood.
And now in our inbox we find images of Tiago's latest product.
It's cork.
But just as interesting is the fact it has been released by a new Portuguese producer, Vicara.
Corky Bowl by Tiago Sá da Costa is as the name cleverly guides you to conclude: a bowl, made of cork. A handmade, moulded cork bowl.
Although Corky Basket might be the etymologically more precise name as it is intended for bread and other dry foodstuffs.
Aside from being a technically advanced piece of work, Corky Bowl is an object with a delightfully accessible form and flowing typography; facts which combined with its obvious references to "nature" and "harmony" almost guarantees it will discover its devotees.
Twelve months ago we wrote:
And by "new markets" we didn't mean cheap tourist tat or low value packaging; but high value design led products. Akin to our comments regarding Croatian Holiday 2012 at Vienna Design Week.
Tiago's current "Corkmatters" research and his attempts at finding new uses and fields of application for cork is just the sort of intelligent project we had in mind.
And Vicara seem to understand the situation similarly. And pleasingly not just in terms of cork.
Speaking as we regularly do to Portuguese designers we know that the financial problems in the land are making things harder, contracts aren't as easy to come by as they once were and those that are available aren't as well paid as once was.
The initiative for change must therefore come from the designers themselves.
And so it is pleasing to note that Vicara is not just a designer led company, including (smow)blog favourite Paulo "Spore Vase" Sellmayer as the grandly titled "Client Manager", but much more are a designer led company who look to be basing their collection on objects of a more high quality, author design nature rather than going for more obvious, market friendly products.
Bringing design to the market rather than marketing "design". As it were.
Which obviously is to be both welcomed and encouraged.
At the moment the Vicara product range is limited, but given the fantastic depth of talent in contemporary Portuguese design we're certain it will quickly expand.
We'll keep you updated.
