experimentadesign and Amorim, world leader in the cork industry, are unveiling a new collection of cork objects on 13 Aril, in Milan's Fuori Salone, one of the highpoints of the international design calendar.
Leading the way towards new, relevant territories for cork as a premium raw material for the 21st century, experimentadesign curated MATERIA, a collection of fresh, identity-strong objects.
Ten top Portuguese and international designers were commissioned to develop new pieces made predominantly from natural cork, taking full advantage of its physical and mechanical characteristics while playing on its visual and sensory qualities.
From different nationalities, backgrounds and generations, the invited designers share a common philosophy of pursuing a strongly authorial work, grounded in a finely honed practice and a keen and eye for creative imagery. They are Filipe Alarcão (also project coordinator), Fernando Brízio, Miguel Vieira Baptista, Daniel Caramelo, studio Pedrita and Marco Sousa Santos, from Portugal, plus BIG-GAME (Switzerland / Belgium), Inga Sempé (France), Nendo (Japan) and Raw Edges (Israel / UK). These starkly distinctive design personalities bring to MATERIA an eclectic range of insights and approaches to concept, use and aesthetics.
MATERIA seeks to introduce cork into the everyday, in the shape of objects that are witty and refreshingly tactile, and engage the user on a relational level. Featuring several typologies, they fuse innovation, functionality and an empathic take on contemporary lifestyles. This new brand stems from a challenged posed by Amorim to experimentadesign, to encourage the public at large to view natural cork from an entirely different perspective.
A millennia-old material with a long tradition in the Western Mediterranean basin, the extent of cork's potential remains for the most part untapped, from a technical as well as aesthetical and sensorial perspectives. Nature's own high-tech achievement, cork features one of the most unique combination of properties to be found in any raw material and one that cannot be matched or replicated by anything man-made.
Elastic, compressible, impermeable to liquids and gases, resistant yet lightweight and buoyant, cork is 100% biodegradable and recyclable. A high-performance, high-efficiency material, it is also uniquely sustainable - environmentally, economically and socially.
