It's lightweight and waterproof. It floats, doesn't burn and is virtually mar and wearproof. Not surprisingly, cork has been used since time immemorial (cork boxes have been found in the wrecks of ancient Portuguese fishing boats), and in the past few years it has been enjoying a comeback on the design scene. Chosen in 2007 by the influential British designer Jasper Morrison for a set of chairs for Vitra, cork suddenly became fashionable, appearing in shoes, drinking glasses, tatamis, deck chairs and a thousand other novel uses.
It is thought that the cork oak tree evolves its thick, non-flammable bark as a form of natural fire protection. As early winemakers discovered, it's foam like internal structure also gives the material tremendous elasticity, allowing it to resist compression and retain its shape. This capacity inspired French designer Martin Szekely to create his Simple Boxes collection, seen at Gallerie Kreo in Paris last year: a desk, storage modules and a coffee table that take advantage of "cork's light, soft feel", the designer says, "and its ability to absorb physical and acoustic shocks." This same impact resistance is the key feature of Kevin Goupil's cork bicycle helmet.
Swiss designer Tomas Kral has reinvented the cork bottle stopper in his Clown Nose series, using a sphere of cork to seal the mouth of a carafe. The cork candleholders and tablemats by Marie-Christine Dorner were conceived to enhance the material qualities of the adjoining surfaces. As she puts it, "Cork is great for making other materials look great, like porcelain or metal". Lastly, cork's heat resistance made it the ideal choice for the shades of the Float lamps by Benjamin Hubert. It's a fitting name for lights that seem lighter than air due to the presence of a famously lighter-than-water material.
in Air France Madame Magazine
