New Uses for Cork

She with cork sole

Cork skin hand bags

On Sunday Morning today, the company Pelcorp was featured.  Out of Portugal, where many cork trees grow, Martha Tichner told the story of the cork industry and differentiated among types of cork.  For example, did you know corks for the finest champagnes cost $2.00 a piece?  The Perreria family of Pelcorp found its buisness falling off; I don't know about them specifically, but tin screw tops and plastic corps are hurting the industry.  When they were left with "tons" of raw cork material, the family had to find another use.  So, they repurposed.  They developed "corkskins," a kind of cloth made from very thin cork.  They  make handbags, some with a snakeskin look, baseball caps, umbrellas, laptop covers, and much more.  They deserve the prize for repurposing and recycling, and a certain lay whos initials are MS, should be eating her heart out.  Pelcorp has "out-M'd" her!

Cork skin cell phone cover, made to look like snake

I love corks; they make up one of  my collections of things I don't collect.  I especially love dolls and miniatures made out of

cork, including some tiny scenes in glass shadowboxes fom Asia.  Necessity is the mother of invention, and Pelcorp has shown what it was able to do with s surplus, or they made lemonade out of a lot of lemons, maybe lemon wine :)