Since it's Earth Day, I figured this would be a great time to talk about cork as a practical and stylish material. Not only is natural cork a good choice for the environment, but recycling cork (and it's easy to do - see what follows) is a great way to create new things sustainably.
And it's stylish. Cork is classic, romantic, and rustic all at once. It makes me think of drinking wine and of the cork boards in my father's office where he's always displays the pins and buttons he collects. In fact, my mother (always creatively recycling things) made this lovely board out of old wine corks for my dad to display some of his collection. Isn't it cute?
If you doubt for one second that cork can be stylish, might I refer you to these gorgey Sam Edelman shoes. (As if you needed one more reason to worship Sam Edelman!)
And cork doesn't just look great on our feet, it's also lovely under our feet. These floors by Duro Design are made of 100% post-industrial cork. Amazed yet?
I must admit, my idea of tying in cork to Earth Day was inspired by my favorite company ever, Anthropologie. They never fail to be inspiring. Anthropologie actually collected corks from customers for at least a month before putting up their April display windows -- all cork in honor of Earth Day. Look how great they turned out.
