If you, like me, guessed that CORQUE is some sort of clever acronym, guess again, for the word is merely the distinctive identifier for the new collection of cork products conceived of and created by designers Ana Mestre and Gonçalo Riscado. The line by CORQUE Design–on display at this week’s Meatpacking Design–consists of tables, chairs, seating, stools, and wallcoverings—each with defining features created through innovative usage.

Cork chair. Designed by CORQUE Design.

The Amazing Versatility of Cork and CORQUE

The funnest fact about cork I’ve come across is that it’s predominately cultivated in Portugal, that West-side neighbor of Spain known for its predominance of daring sea explorers and some of the world’s best seafood. Inland, however, you’d find that the country is fairly riddled with trees—the Cork Oak and Holm Oak specifically—thus facilitating a thriving industry that supplies 50 to 70% of the world’s cork.

Mestre and Riscado are notably excited by the prospect of Portugal as cork-production-central, and one senses their passion within the varied range of their products. Offerings include the Lagarta Bench, a modular seating system that’s beautifully simple and simply inspired; Vinco, a luxurious lounger made form triangular segments of subtly sculpted cork; and Wallcork, a clever covering that adorns walls with cork’s signature texture and a marvelous Mediterranean mosaic.

Via Core77.

About the Manufacturer: CORQUE Design is the inspired sustainable brainchild of Portuguese designers Ana Mestre and Gonçalo Riscado. The duo have seized on the plentiful resources of their home turf to produce and popularize a lovely line of green products with varied functions and an amazingly diverse aesthetic. CORQUE achieves the differing structural qualities and variable appearance of their line of wallcoverings, tables, chairs, and stools through a ménage of manipulations, as Mestre and Riscado employ innovative techniques such as infusing fine cork with resin, boiling cork, or intermixing a species of varnish.