Uncorked, And How! With a ‘Solution’ to Weave Rugs

How did the idea to work with cork come about? “Ever since I remember, I have preferred natural materials to synthetic ones at home and near my skin. So, when I started my career in textiles, I worked with cotton and paper in rugs and also loved vegetal fibres for their natural look as also the concept. We live in a country that has lots of cork and we see it often so the idea, I think, came naturally like, why not? Once the idea was conceptualised, I had to figure out how to make the cork solution more resistant and workable during the weaving process. This took a little more time and gradually we could use it in a woven rug to get a product with all the benefits that cork brings.”

“Cork is all around us,” she reiterates. And indeed it is, what with Portugal being the largest producer of cork in the world. The wine stoppers you so casually pop, about 50% of them come from this country in the Iberian peninsula. Cork is obtained from a tree and the tree is never cut down when it is harvested. Besides, it is illegal to cut a cork tree! You read that right! A portal on Portugal informs that one requires a permit from the Ministry of Agriculture to do so. Cork can be harvested every nine years all through the 270 years that happens to be the lifetime of this tree! And cork is sustainable, apart from the fact that it earns handsome revenues for the country where it perhaps grows the most.

Cork is a naturally noble material, that is attractive and pleasant to the touch. It delivers a mark of distinction and originality to the articles in which it is incorporated, making them more valuable—by creating their own individual "fingerprints,” so that each cork object becomes unique.

That is perhaps why cork has been chosen by an impressive list of luxury brands, such as Christian Louboutin, Diane Von Furstenberg, Stella McCartney, Gucci, Prada, Chloé, Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors, and is also adopted in design-conscious segments by brands such as Guess, Fly London and Benetton. In the field of sports, brands such as Adidas, Nike and Birkenstock, have already embraced the versatility of cork.

The association between cork and shoes is so natural that it is not surprising that the first start up launched by Portugal-based Amorim Cork Ventures (AMC) was an innovative brand of cork flip-flops: AsPortuguesas. Combining versatility, lightness and convenience, in addition to a unique look, AsPortuguesas constituted a very important first step in stimulating creativity and innovation, with cork as a differentiating proposal.

The Elon Musk or Ambanis of Portugal happen to be the Amorim family that has made a multi-billion dollar fortune in cork apart from investments in several other businesses. And one such vertical is the Amorim Cork Ventures. Its website declares: “Amorim Cork Ventures has been established in 2014 with the purpose of supporting entrepreneurs and startups launch their projects and businesses while exploring innovative products and applications for cork. This Corticeira Amorim company's main purpose is to promote the development and expansion of new cork products and cork-related businesses, mainly targeted to foreign markets.

“The creation of Amorim Cork Ventures represents a whole new approach to open innovation, to promoting entrepreneurship and the development of new businesses with cork. These have to add value to the market, as well as to be export-oriented.”

Says its Promoter António Rios de Amorim: "Innovation is a cornerstone of Corticeira Amorim's business. Setting up Amorim Cork Ventures is, therefore, a natural step in the ongoing evolution of Amorim that, as a world leader, is in a specially privileged position to support entrepreneurs who want to join Corticeira Amorim in its mission to add value to cork. We believe that this path will lead us to achieve sustainable cork export growth and development for the entire industry."

The focus for the upcoming years at AMC, says Director Paulo Bessa, will be on establishing strategic partnerships to boost profitable growth in new geographies and with new products/materials with eco-design always as a value proposition.

When asked which other projects has Amorim invested in the fashion, home fashion, fashion accessories and footwear space, Bessa responds: “Affirming itself as a leading international company in the research, development and production of cork composite solutions, Amorim Cork Composites (one of Amorim's business units) develops ground-breaking concepts and has launched innovative products, applications and solutions in the market. This diverse range of products exploits cork's unique characteristics, such as lightness, comfort, durability, safety, sustainability, shock absorption and thermal, acoustic and anti-vibration insulation capacity. These same unique qualities have also seduced world giants such as NASA (Scout, Space Shuttle or Falcon projects), Siemens (Inspiro surface meter), Boeing (Delta IV programme), SpaceX (rockets) or CP (Alfa Pendular trains), and also artists, designers and architects.”

And it was as part of the AMC initiative that Susana’s idea to weave rugs made out of a patent-pending cork solution won the award in a country wide competition. “This was, in fact, one of the first businesses to be accepted by Amorim Cork Ventures, during the first call for proposals, that ended in December 2014. After the incubation period (which allowed the product and business model to be developed), the company was incorporated and invested in production equipment, culminating in the market launch of the first woven cork carpets."
Says Susana, “They are my investors and we have a 50:50 partnership. They believed in my idea and we made it real :)”

Susana studied Fashion & Textile Design at the Citex Fashion School in Porto, and it was at the end of 2014 that she started working with cork. “I had been working on rugs for 20 years, and always with natural and recovered materials. The idea to use cork came naturally as it is a very familiar material in our country. Besides, the colour reminded me of materials I like, but not so much the touch as those made of materials like sisal or jute. So, I started to work on the solution that we now use.”

Prior to this she was a teacher of weaving in special education and was part of the fashion production team in Portugal. She also worked as a freelancer for some rug companies and fashion brands. And now with Sugo Cork they work mostly with hotels, residential projects, interior designers and architects, and “so we do not have a real standard catalogue as our rugs are all made by order and customised. We also have small collections for some interiors shops all over the world and it’s a special market for us.”

The selling started through participation in international fairs that “took us many places and allowed us to show in person our rugs, where the clients could touch and feel them.”

Coming back to Sugo Cork Rugs, the production numbers, says the lady, depends on the projects and the designs. If it is a simple pattern they can produce more in a day, and the detailed designs obviously take more than a day to weave. “We produce in the north of Portugal. We are a small team of weavers in our factory and when we need extra production we increase the hours per day or call extra weavers. We ship worldwide.”

In terms of the environmental footprint, Susana emphasises: “We are committed to nature at all stages of the product's lifecycle, and this includes the selection of raw materials. The materials most used are cork and recovered cotton. Regarding the recovered cotton, it comes from Portuguese industries, that despite being new (unused) is considered waste. So, this upcycling approach allows Sugo to give a new life to that cotton, improving therefore the environmental footprint.

“The cork oak forests of southern Portugal are responsible for half of all global cork production and are classified as one of 36 biodiversity hotspots around the world. This unique ecosystem, known as the montado, has a remarkable capacity for capturing carbon. For every tonne of cork produced, these forests capture an estimated 73 tonnes of CO2, making them a vital tool in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

The pandemic, like everywhere else, corked it all for a while, impacting more “a recent and small company like ours and even changed our course. Covid19 ensured that most international projects just get delayed or simply cancelled. Although we managed to maintain some clientele in Portugal, we also got toeholds in new markets across several countries, mostly by word of mouth.” When questioned on what was the change in course, Susana is not willing to utter a word yet, though the hunch is that it could well be apparel. But that is a few months away now.