At Milan Design Week, David Rockwell and Surface Pulled Back the Curtain on Casa Cork

To step into Casa Cork, a Fuorisalone installation for Milan Design Week developed by Rockwell Group in collaboration with the nonprofit Cork Collective and the cork producer Corticeira Amorim, is to understand the potential of cork as a sustainable luxury material. Richly imagined by David Rockwell, the immersive exhibition marries a product showcase featuring many marquee names in design with select items from an international student design competition, as well as substantive information on the circular economy of cork. Rather than tell the story of the material, Rockwell Group shows what a future dressed in cork looks like.

Two features anchor the visual experience within Casa Cork. First is a cork tree replica standing in the center of it all. Produced by the multidisciplinary workshop Factum Arte, the monolithic tree sculpture was 3D printed from a scan of a real cork oak tree in a Spanish forest, then dressed in virgin cork—collected after it had fallen, rather than harvested from a living tree. This organic form exists in contrast to and in dialogue with Casa Cork’s lavish bar, designed by Rockwell Group for Artemest. These two disparate elements underscore Casa Cork’s mission to inform, inspire, and further the conversation.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Casa Cork’s interiors are almost entirely made of cork. This ranges from patterned, custom wallcoverings from 4Spaces to sconces and pendants manufactured by Thomas Cooper Studio. Furnishings and collectible design items, all crafted from cork, were selected from the repertoires of the Campana Brothers, Tom Dixon, Made In Situ by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance, Grain, Toni Grilo, Maddalena Casadei and Falegnameria Pisu for Pretziada, and Susana Godinho—giving attendees a brad yet unified sense of texture and form. Together, these pieces define a space that feels as if it’s been in this Milanese storefront all along.

After two years in development, with support from Chilewich, USM Modular Furniture, Vitra, and many others, Casa Cork did not open its doors in Milan simply to be observed. A platform for engagement, it hosted a cocktail for Surface and Dorsia with cocktails by Le Specialità. Programming throughout Milan Design Week will include dialogues between Yves Béhar, Deyan Sudjic, Suchi Reddy, Dixon, and Rockwell, as well as a cork molding demo led by students from Parsons School of Design (one of the two institutions featured in the competition, along with Politecnico di Milano). And, as Rockwell himself made clear, this one installation is just the beginning: after Milan, Casa Cork’s components will be saved for use elsewhere.