To shake things up a bit, we’re here to talk about something that is neither metal nor cold, heavy nor shiny. A material that is widely known for its wine stopping abilities goes deeper into history and has a much greater environmental significance than you might imagine.

Cork is the bark taken from the Quercus suber tree, more commonly referred to as the cork oak, and we are so happy about its existence. So happy that we created both the Little Cloud Tray and the Cloud Planter in celebration of its softness.

Cork has been precious to humans since ancient times: from footwear to air-tight seals, instrument-making to fashion statements — cork’s water-repelling and antimicrobial properties make it a desirable and impermeable work material.

Cork has even been used to make an entire boat and in 1655, polymath Robert Hooke was so intrigued by cork that he looked at a piece under his microscope — and discovered cells! Down below is the first image Hooke drew after making this groundbreaking observation.

He named these microscopic structures after the “monastic cells” that monks slept in. We now know that cork is composed of non-living cells, with hollow bits of air and gas that explain its buoyancy.

Cork is harvested only two months out of the year, with the season beginning at the end of May and continuing through the beginning of August (Happy Cork Harvest Season!). Spring and summer weather make the bark flexible enough that it can be cut away without harming the tree.

We are indeed lovers of harnessing the power of machinery to create meaningful and wondrous objects, but one thing that’s so special about this process is that only a human can perform the careful and precise act of axing into the cork oak.

This is done in such a way that only the bark layer is cut into, pried open, and removed. This careful and highly regulated job leaves the tree unscatched: it continues to live, and regenerates a new layer of bark in about 10 years.

The process feels almost symbiotic. When the layer of cork bark is removed, it gives the tree a new life. A harvested cork oak absorbs more CO2 than a non-harvested cork oak, as the process of regenerating a new layer of bark requires more energy from the tree. One tree can be harvested about 15 times in its lifetime, spanning up to 200 years! A cork forest absorbs up to 70 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.

Sometimes design begins with the material — you become transfixed by its look and feel, and in that moment you decide to make something useful out of it.

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