Establishing itself as an international reference in the research, development and production of cork composite solutions, Amorim Cork Solutions is a generator of disruptive concepts that launches innovative products, applications and solutions onto the market.
Furthermore, in order to stimulate the capability to innovate, develop differentiated materials and test new composites, the former Amorim Cork Composites, now Amorim Cork Solutions, opened the i.cork factory in October 2018. A mix between a factory, a laboratory and a hands-on test centre.
The pilot workshop will certainly provide valid answers to the many challenges posed by the 25 different business segments in which Amorim Cork Solutions currently operates. This list includes some of the most technological, demanding and advanced sectors of economic activity in the world, such as aerospace, construction, automobiles, electrical engineering, sports and design. Always combining Research & Development and Innovation (R&D+i) with highly specialised, qualified and efficient engineering processes.
A formula put into practice since the company was founded in 1963, the results of which are visible both in the number of projects brought to fruition and in the multiplicity, complexity and heterogeneity of the products, solutions and applications made available to clients, institutions and industries. Examples include the development of a new cork composite for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV), the development of an innovative cork-based material for an installation in the Turbine Hall gallery at the renowned Tate Modern in London, or the development of a revolutionary cork solution combined with concrete for the Lisbon Cruise Terminal.
More, the development of a new cork composite for river cruise ship decks, the development of an innovative cork-based material for public leisure spaces, or the development of a revolutionary cork solution for the infills of synthetic turf pitches.
A diverse range of products that exploit cork's unique characteristics such as lightness, comfort, durability, safety, sustainability, shock absorption and thermal, acoustic and anti-vibration insulation capacity. The same unique premises that have seduced giants such as NASA (Scout, Space Shuttle or Falcon projects), Siemens (Inspiro surface metro), Boeing (Delta IV programme), SpaceX (rockets) or CP (Alfa Pendular trains).
But also artists, designers and architects, such as the Briton Tom Dixon (Chelsea Flower Show 2019), the Norwegian Lars Beller Fjetland (cork tiles in Porto and Lisbon), the American Jeremy Barbour (Claus Porto shop in New York), the Brazilian Campana Brothers (Sobreiro furniture line), or the Swiss Herzog & de Meuron and the Chinese Ai Wei wei (Serpentine Pavilion 2012).
In fact, passion, research and experimentation around cork were the basic foundations of the Metamorphosis programme. An initiative that allowed Amorim Cork Composites, at the time, to carry out some of the most visionary proposals by names such as Álvaro Siza, Eduardo Souto de Moura, João Luís Carrilho da Graça, Manuel Aires Mateus, Herzog & de Meuron, Alejandro Aravena, Amanda Levete, James Irvine, Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa. Thus expanding the limits of this raw material to unimaginable levels.
The topic of material formats is another of Amorim Cork Solutions' key strands of innovation. With this in mind, the company developed the Extrucork materials programme. In other words, cork composites with biopolymers that allow cork to be injectable, extrudable, mouldable and thermoformable, thus making it possible to create shapes that have never been achieved before, opening doors to other applications and discovering new areas, spheres and fields of intervention.
Amorim Cork Solutions also serves as a paradigmatic model of the circular economy. By recycling, reusing and reinventing by-products from other sectors of activity. One of the latest examples of this ecofriendly approach is the partnership with Nike. A close collaboration in which Amorim Cork Composites, in a perfect industrial symbiosis, incorporates duly recycled materials from the US multinational to create innovative composites.