Cork stamp debuts in Portugal - [November 2007]

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Mario Ferreira
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Cork stamp debuts in Portugal - [November 2007]

Post by Mario Ferreira »

URL: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?clic ... 524C502194

Cork stamp debuts in Portugal


November 29 2007 at 03:16AM

Lisbon - The world's first stamp made entirely from cork was issued in Portugal on Wednesday, in a ceremony intended to show how the cork industry is diversifying in a world of screw-top lids.

The stamp is made from wafer-thin "paper cork", with a thickness of just 0.35mm, and is the first in a print run of 230 000 - all of them unique due to the cellular structure of cork.

Designed by the Portuguese engraver Joao Machado, the stamp has a face-value of one euro and depicts a cork-tree on a hill. It was unveiled at an official ceremony at the Lisbon parliament.

Portugal is the world's biggest producer of cork, with 737 000 hectares of cork-trees - 32.5 percent of the global total.

However faced with competition from plastic and metal caps, the sector has had to diversify, according to Antonio Amorim, the chairperson of the Portuguese Cork Producers Association.

The cork industry is currently developing in the areas of "building materials (cladding, insulation) and state-of-the-art sectors such as aeronautics, thanks to its qualities of lightness, impermeability and elasticity, and its green credentials (renewable, biodegradable and recyclable), he added. - Sapa-AFP
Todd Pettinger
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Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:59 am
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada

Post by Todd Pettinger »

A cork stamp... that is a new use, although I hope the cork industry doesn't get TOO popular and not have any left eventually for VP corks!

Here in Canada, a trend that is catching on, particularly for basements, garages and "mud rooms" (transitional rooms from the garage to the main house) is using cork flooring. Softer than walking on bare concrete or tile, water resistant and able to be painted/coloured, cork flooring is another interesting use for cork.

Todd
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