Having traveled frequently to Portugal over the last ten years, my ideas for these bags were created from the sustainable product that identifies this country and the wonderful people living there.  This material is cork, an impermeable, buoyant, elastic and fire resistant material that is harvested from the cork oak forests.  Cork comes from the bark of the Cork Oak Tree.  The extraction of the bark is a process that does not harm the tree and is renewable.  Every nine years there is new bark to be removed.  Cork is a material that comes directly from nature and there is very little processing involved.  The ecological footprint from its extraction until the final product is incredibly low compared to the industry average of plastic production.  Therefore, when you hold a cork object in your hand you are holding a bit of nature not some synthetic material.  

Sustainability has been an important concern for many years and designers are increasingly looking for materials that have a lesser impact on the environment.  Materials that are recycled or come from renewable sources have gained popularity and importance.  Cork fabric is the perfect alternative to animal leather.  With the need of more eco-conscious alternatives, being able to produce a high quality product which is beautiful and practical and is still vegan and sustainable is the perfect solution.

The softness of the cork fabric is one of its wonderful characteristics.  Each product is as unique as a fingerprint as there are no two equal pieces of cork.