Buoyant and Bold

The chaise lounge is an early example of Michalik unlocking cork’s vast potential. The Massachusetts native began experimenting with it about two decades ago as a graduate student in the Rhode Island School of Design’s furniture design program. He had been researching alternative materials when he chanced upon keenly priced pallets of cork. The stuff responded differently to tools such as the lathe and the band saw, inspiring Michalik to see familiar skills anew. “I felt I had stepped off of a spaceship onto a new planet,” he recalls. “It was doing things that I’d never seen done with any other furniture material before.”

Today, Michalik tends to work solely in cork, sourced from one of the world’s largest cork producers, Portugal’s Corticeira Amorim. A large portion of its harvested bark becomes wine stoppers, but the rest gets blended and cast into blocks or used as insulation. Part of cork’s appeal to Michalik is that it is recyclable, sustainable, and “ecologically positive,” as he puts it (although it still has to be shipped from Europe). “As you harvest the material, it fosters growth in the life source. The forests get stronger and more robust, and they suck more carbon out of the atmosphere.”

The material is also hardy—ideal for objects designed to last and “take on the everyday life of people who live with them,” Michalik says. It’s weatherproof, and scuffs and stains are easily wiped off. Sanding and gluing can often fix breakage, and Michalik has even repaired chairs interpreted by cats as scratching posts. Over time, each piece will also develop a unique patina.

Using cork makes sense, especially as environmental concerns heighten the criticism of fast furniture, and Michalik has noticed a surge in its popularity in architecture and design. “It goes back to this need to return to the Earth that we all feel right now,” he speculates. He hopes to build on this interest by publishing a book that compiles his research into the history and agriculture of cork, and that proposes it as a model material for reimagining craft and design. “If we think more about the effects that our spaces have on our bodies, we can be more mindful in how we use and take care of those objects,” he says. “Because they’re better for us physically and psychologically, and they’re better for the systems of life on Earth.”

Claire Voon is a Brooklyn, New York–based journalist and critic who has contributed to publications including the New York Times, Artforum, and the Brooklyn Rail.