Portuguese studio Digitalab has won the rising star award at Stockholm Furniture Fair, with an innovative method of turning cork into thread.
Architects Brimet Silva and Ana Fonseca of Digitalab have together developed a method of turning cork into a thin thread that can be used in the manufacture of furniture, lighting, textiles and accessories.
Called CO-RK, the thread offers a sustainable, non-fibrous alternative to materials like plastic.
Digitalab presented CO-RK at the Stockholm Furniture Fair
The Stockholm Furniture Fair Editors' Choice jury, chaired by Dezeen founder Marcus Fairs, said the duo "used cork to produce a beautiful fabric that can be used to make products."
"The winner exhibited creative exploration of an underused natural material," they said. Silva and Fonseca created the product for Gencork, an offshoot of 50-year-old Portuguese company Sofalca, which manufactures cork pellets using the branches of cork trees. This process is more sustainable than the typical manufacture of cork, which comes from tree bark.
The thread is formed by injecting water vapour through these cork pellets. This causes the pellets to expand, whilst the water bonds with the resin in the cork.
The innovative cork thread can be used to make lighting and furniture
The mixture is then pressed and combined with a base layer of cotton fabric to produce a thin sheet that can be cut to a millimetre thick. The resulting threads are then washed to increase their ...