Knowledge, responsibility and sustainability: expanding, sharing and contagion, Cristina Rios de Amorim

Corticeira Amorim has unparalleled knowledge of how cork can empower the transition to a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive economy, ensuring more responsible and safe consumption. The company has developed a broad plan of initiatives that make cork available to society in its most diverse forms, based on the company's technical expertise and know-how, thereby encouraging further knowledge, discovery and use. In 2010, Corticeira Amorim launched the Materia collection, Cork by Amorim, curated by Experimentadesign, which since then has formed the basis for a unique creative action in the sector, presenting cork on the main international design stages as it had never been seen before. Materia is a collection of sustainable objects, that applies new techniques and trends to cork, signed by national and international creatives, from distinguished figures to emerging designers from the world of design. We have seen the growing involvement of a remarkable community of creative talents, who have made it possible to conquer new territories for cork. In the context of the Materia collection we receive hundreds of design, architecture and creativity projects, that often link cork and Amorim to important educational, social, environmental, cultural or artistic initiatives.

Through the work of Corticeira Amorim, cork has progressively gained a place and a leading role in initiatives setting the design, architecture and sustainability agenda worldwide, such as the Serpentine Summer Pavilions, the V&A, the Tate Modern, the London Design Festival, Milan Design Week, the Venice Biennale and ARCO Madrid. This strategic action plan also focuses on raising awareness of cork among the world's design community - of today and of the future - by organising and taking part in various initiatives, in partnership with institutions such as the Domaine de Boisbuchet, the Royal College of Art, the Karlsruhe Institute (Germany), the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti di Milano, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Parsons School of Design and the Pratt Institute, encompassing initiatives, workshops and even multi-year programmes on design, architecture and technology applied to cork. As a result, many hundreds of students around the world come into contact with cork during their education, receiving knowledge and a real motivation for cork and sustainability. In this issue, we invite you to learn more about three current initiatives: Spirit of Place (London), Generation Proxima (New York) and Not Post-Modernism.

The cork installation, Spirit of Place, conceived by the designer Simone Brewster for the London Design Festival 2023, is inspired by Portuguese cork oak trees and cork forests, placing a representation of Portuguese natural heritage in the centre of London, emphasising its characteristics and added value.

Generation Proxima: Emerging Environmental Practices in Portuguese Architecture, the exhibition held at the Center for Architecture, in New York, highlights the approach and strategies of seven Portuguese studios whose practice is environmentally orientated, in the context of the climate emergency. Cork plays a central role in this exhibition, from the construction of models to the design elements that line parts of the gallery walls. It thereby stands out as a material that has great visual charisma and excellence in terms of its performance and sustainability.

The Serralves exhibition, "Not Post-Modernism. Dan Graham and 20th Century Architecture", conceived by the late artist, highlights eight architects whose work profoundly influenced him. Atelier Bow-Wow translated the exhibition into a curatorial space, by promoting a creative dialogue and dynamic interaction between the different ideas and forms. At the heart of this exhibition we encounter the transformative power of cork, a material that transcends a mere function to become an integral element of design and sustainability.

We complement our actions with a strong editorial plan, which since 1983 has included the uninterrupted quarterly publication, Amorim News; various publications on cork aimed at different target audiences, including children and young people in terms of environmental education; constantly renewed content on www.amorim.com; various in-house publications, such as the books, Metamorphosis, Amorim: The Future is Our Present, The Cork Book and 1870 AMORIM 2020.

1 @Ed Reeve

3 @Domaine de Boisbuchet