Cork stamp debuts in Portugal - [November 2007]
Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:55 am
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
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