Exploring cork as a base material for design, CORQUE develops high quality eco-design products (furniture and accessories), introducing a new concept “Designing Living Objects” – the design of new exclusive and differentiated products with unique sensorial properties and exceptional environmental characteristics. It proposes the valorisation of cork – a natural, renewable material, which integrates unique social and cultural aspects, raising it to the status of a sustainability icon.
Lisbon born founder Ana Mestre, has worked in ecodesign for the last 15 years. She holds a PhD in Design for Sustainability and she is a researcher and lecturer. In 2009, she launched the CORQUE studio and brand and in 2015, she was nominated as a Portuguese Design Award finalist. In 2016, the scientific committee of La Triennale di Milano’s Design Museum nominated her work and exhibition CORQUE#016 for the ´XXI Century. Design after Design´ international triennial design event, as part of the professional designers selection.
The brand focuses on the evolutionary transition of natural materials in design, and particularly on the translation of the natural system of cork into functional systems and objects through a combination of traditional and advanced technologies. In that, CORQUE is a synthesis of the results of an applied design research, focusing on innovative applications of cork materials and technologies, and on strategies and processes that champion the use of creativity and conceptual development in sustainable design.
The CORQUE pop-up installation, taking place in the front yard of THECUBE – the team’s London co-work studio, will give visitors the opportunity to interact with the work and have a chat with the designers.
The open event during the London Design Festival / Shoreditch Design Triangle is due to be held on Friday, September 22nd from 6 pm, at THECUBE
– 155 Commercial Street London E1 6BJ
The CORQUE exhibition at THECUBE can also be seen during the weekend (23 Sep and 24 Sep (11 am – 7 pm daily).
