Cortiça: Design & Sustainability

Daniel Michalik is a recent grad from the department of Furniture Design at the Rhode Island School of Design. With a focus on sustainability, he has developed several cork pieces ranging from lounges to ottomans. It’s a beautiful collection made with an unconventional material used in a very innovative way.
At over 72 inches long, Cortiça is a full-size chaise longue with a place for head, heels, and everything in between.
The balanced form, along with the pliability of the material allows the user of this lounge to rock gently from side to side or on her back with a great degree of stability. The result is a sensation of floating, weightlessness and total support.
He says "My work focuses on researching and expanding the uses of underutilized, unconventional material. Investigation of new materials can only lead to innovative methods of production and new ways of interacting with our environment. My recent work taps the rich potential of cork, an engaging, environmentally responsible material which is completely sustainable, recyclable, and plentiful. With this new work I have tried to explore the deep potential of this wonderfully tactile material, making it do things that only it can do. I have discovered that when handled correctly, the natural flexibility of cork allows it to form fantastic, complex shapes no other material can match."

Then again "Knowing that cork is naturally 100% waterproof, I decided to tackle a little experiment. With two intrepid stunt pilots, I took the shop chaise down to a local beach, and rode it right out into Buzzards Bay! Floats like, well, a cork--only more ergonomic. But don't take our word for it, see for yourself here"


http://danielmichalik.com