Cork

A versatile and unique raw material.

Cork is the outer bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus suber L.), the 100% natural plant tissue covering the trunk and branches. No industrial, laboratory or technological process has yet been able to emulate its characteristics.

Key Characteristics

Cork cells have a pentagonal and sometimes hexagonal prism shape.

The ink has been tested and scientifically proven to have low chemical emissions, this includes health-based criteria for additional chemicals. The ink is schools and healthcare facilities safe.

Static discharges usually makes a light crackle or pop sound over playback of records.

Cork offers protection against allergies because it does not absorb dust, and therefore prevents the appearance of dust mites, and therefore the odour of its aromatic compounds is not intrusive. Keep you records clean and happy.

Cork is very soft to the touch, with a very unique odour, that is not intrusive and is slightly sweet. With a normal temperature very close to that of the human body, cork emits a sense of comfort that is hard to replicate with any other material.

Cork is the only solid which when compressed on one side, does not increase in volume on the other. In addition, it has an “elastic memory” which enables it to adapt to variations in temperature and pressure. This characteristic is due to the gaseous mixture between each cell, which allows it to be compressed to around half its thickness, and subsequently decompressed, returning to its original shape.

Thanks to the suberin and ceroids contained in the cell walls, cork is impermeable to liquids and gases. Its resistance to moisture enables it to age without deteriorating.

More than 50% of the volume of cork is air, which means that it is very light, weighing just 0.16 grams per cubic centimetre, and can float.

Cork is a 100% natural raw material, that is 100% reusable and 100% recyclable

Cork has low conductivity of heat, sound and vibration. This is because the gaseous components contained in cork are enclosed in small impermeable compartments, and isolated from each other. Isolate the playback of your records.

The slow combustibility of cork makes it a natural fire retardant. Cork is therefore a natural barrier against fires. Cork burns without a flame and does not emit toxic gases during its combustion.

As a natural product, cork is 100% biodegradable.

Cork & Art collaborations rights reserved by studio makkuro and collaborating artists.

Reference Cork Key Characterisitcs Corticeira Amorim 2021, Portugal, accessed 10 October 2021, https://www.amorim.com/en/cork/key-characteristics/