Daniel Michalik does it all with cork.
Michalik is a Brooklyn-based furniture designer and Parsons School of Design professor who works extensively in cork. Twenty years deep into his fascination with the material, he has constructed furniture of every shape and configuration from cork and even outfitted a Google store with it. Recently, he visited Portugal to research cork’s possibilities as a sustainable material. Claire Voon wrote about his work in “Buoyant and Bold” in the Winter 2023 issue of American Craft.
How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?
My creative practice is rooted in integration. This includes experimenting with cork toward the realization of useful objects and interior spaces. It also includes traveling to the forests that produce this amazing material and learning about these systems so we can rethink the way we use materials in general.
Daniel Michalik, Striated Chair -1, 2022, recycled cork, paint, 26 x 14 x 15 in.
