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STRATA – Rethinking Cork
Name
Chiara Verde
Education degree
Kandidat
Fagfelt
Architecture
Institute
Design, Product and Material
Program
Furniture Design - Products, Materials and Contexts
Year
2026
Strata is a material-led exploration that reconsiders cork beyond its conventional applications. Often associated with insulation, flooring, or surface treatments, cork is rarely understood as a material capable of contributing to structure, form, and spatial experience. Through a process of experimentation, prototyping, and making, the project investigates how cork can perform in new ways while retaining the qualities that make it unique.
Rather than treating cork as a secondary or decorative element, Strata places the material at the center of the design process. The resulting forms highlight its inherent characteristics, exposing opportunities for new applications in furniture and product design. By challenging established perceptions, the project aims to expand the role of cork within contemporary design and encourage a deeper appreciation of its potential.
Cork is often appreciated for what it covers.
Strata explores what happens when it is allowed to hold instead.
The project shifts the material from a secondary role to a structural one, revealing qualities that usually remain hidden beneath surfaces and finishes.
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Strata is not an attempt to invent a new material, but to rethink the role of an existing one.
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Strata emerged from a process of making, testing, and questioning. The experimental phase was not intended to validate a predetermined solution, but to uncover how cork behaves when pushed beyond its usual role as a surface material. Each sample, failure, and prototype contributed to a gradual understanding of the material, ultimately shaping the structural principles behind the final chair.
The stool was the first furniture outcome of the research, transforming material investigations into a functional object. It acted as a full-scale testbed, validating the structural principles that would later inform the development of Strata.
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The Royal Danish Academy supports the Sustainable Development Goals
Since 2017 the Royal Danish Academy has worked with the Sustainable Development Goals. This is reflected in our research, our teaching and in our students’ projects. This project relates to the following UN goal(-s)
