Conegliano (TV), Italy

The Suber Design Collection by Amorim Cork is a line of interior design items that, through a new ethical and aesthetic vision, marks the launch of a model for business and design that is based on the principles of sustainability.

The Suber design collection includes tables, stools, lamps, clothes hangers, buckets, and umbrella stands that are made of recycled cork.

For its sustainable nature, Suber Design Collection has recently been awarded a 2023 Green Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

This exciting challenge draws inspiration from the designer’s concern for the world that surrounds us, as well as the value of cork and the project itself, set out to research, codify, and interpret a new material by creating new shapes and combinations of materials, in order to realize a unique line of designs.  

Suber Cork second life is a project that has been commissioned and promoted by Amorim Cork Italy, a leader in the production of cork stoppers.

This project is not only based on the awareness of the enormous value of each cork stopper, but also on the recognition of the need for a decisive change in the use of raw materials, and in the development of a circular economy that is sustainable in all its facets.

Amorim Cork Italia has thus devised a virtuous system for collecting used cork and cork stoppers which, once recycled using cutting-edge technology, are transformed into granules and then bonded with natural glues.

Through this transformation, the cork mixture, therefore, takes on the shape of a new sustainable mate-rial called Core, a material that, as a result of its recycling process, has new properties and which, interpreted by the architect, results in the designer items which give life to the Suber collection.  

The collection of the cork stoppers is carried out through the Etico project, a recycling program that involves the collaboration of 45 non-profit organizations throughout Italy.

Recycling is an opportunity to reflect upon and respect the environment and at the same time aid those who need help and support: in fact, all the proceeds from the sale of cork stoppers are donated to non-profit organizations and their various projects.

There are numerous volunteers involved in this initiative who, with generosity and enthusiasm, have committed to raising awareness regarding recycling among citizens, and in doing so are helping to change the world.  

In Italy alone, over 800 million stoppers are thrown away every year.

That’s about 16 million tons of cork that could have been recycled.

Preventing wastage of a precious material such as cork thus reduces CO2 emissions that would derive from incineration, and this therefore also has a positive impact on the ecosystem.  

In fact, cork is able to retain a large part of the pollutive emissions produced by man.

Entirely natural, recyclable, and biodegradable, cork is known as one of the most sustainable materials on earth; in fact, it is obtained from the bark of the cork tree in a process called “decorti-ca.”

This activity does not damage the tree in any way, and its bark is allowed to regrow.

Known as “sugherete,” cork oak forests also play a key role in countering rising man-made CO2 emissions. In particular, it is estimated that each hectare of the forest has the capacity to ‘subtract’ about 14.7 tons of Co2 from the environment. 

The project not only raises awareness regarding the value of the environment that surrounds us, but it is instrumental in developing core, a new sustainable material that is an expression of a new ethic, a new ‘revolutionary’ vision based on contemporary themes such as inclusiveness, sharing, and sustainability.

This vision is characterized by an ability to see the present in a new light and to uncover new, unexplored, and visionary paths.

A new ethic that opens the door for new social and creative opportunities; a veritable well-spring overflowing with riches that are capable of generating new aesthetics, the aesthetics of the future!

Project: Suber Design Collection
Designers: AJF Design, Amorim Cork Italia SpA.
Manufacturer: Amorim Cork Italia SpA.