We've said it so often that even we are somewhat tired of hearing it, but.....
Portugal has lots of cork.
Portugal has a, relatively, weak economy,
Portugal has lots of very talented designers.
1+1+1= More Portuguese cork design would be an excellent idea.
And while some Portuguese labels such as Blackcork, CorkWay or Vicara are investigating, admittedly with various degrees of success, contemporary uses for cork, in general when one finds Portuguese cork in the home it is invariably in form of a cheap pinboard. Or helping keep an agreeable Vinho Verde agreeable.
Which is a shame because cork can do so much more.
In the course of a project run in cooperation with the Portuguese cork conglomerate Amorim, students from the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe under the leadership of Professors Hansjerg Maier-Aichen and Volker Albus travelled to Portugal to learn more about the material and develop new products therefrom. The first batch of designs was presented at the university's Sommerloch exhibition in July and the full programme at Tendence Frankfurt.
Quite a side from showing the versatility of cork as a material in contemporary design the objects developed by the Karlsruhe students also ably demonstrated that our maths might just work.
A few impressions:
