Please put a cork in it

KELLEY KORBIN

Cork is a renewable, durable and eco-friendly product. You probably know it best for its use as wine stoppers, bulletin boards or even floor tiles, but in recent years cork has hit the fashion world – as a fabric that can be used to create handbags, belts and wallets.

Rina Vizer, a Vancouver artist and teacher, discovered these products a couple of years ago while she was on vacation in Portugal with her husband, Andy; she then proceeded to quickly turn her find into a new career.

Vizer was at an open-air market when a cork item caught her eye. It was a tote bag that, upon first glance, looked like it was made of a unique textured leather. Upon closer examination, Vizer saw it was made of cork and instantly fell in love with it. She helped herself to one of the brochures the vendor had at the stall – even though it was in Portuguese and she couldn't understand a word of it. A few days later, Vizer came across another market with more cork products. This time, she bought a belt and, later, a wallet.

Vizer, who grew up in Israel, told the Independent that something about the cork really struck her: "It's something that can only grow in a Mediterranean climate, where it grows in the sun, and it resonated with me as something Israeli."

As the couple travelled south, they saw forests of cork trees, many stripped red, "like they were naked." This appealed to Vizer's artist's eye – it wasn't until later that she learned that the trees look red after they are harvested.

The Portuguese cork industry is heavily regulated to ensure that the thick bark layer of the cork oak tree is removed without harming the tree's vital underlayers. In this manner, a single tree can be harvested repeatedly for a couple of hundred years. In fact, a single cork tree can be harvested every nine years and can yield 200 kilograms of cork over its 200-year lifetime – enough to produce approximately 25,000 wine stoppers.

Vizer said that, despite the urban myth, cork is not an endangered species and there is no shortage of this organic material – it's just that cork is expensive to produce, so some vintners choose to use plastic stoppers as a way to cut costs. But Vizer wasn't interested in bottle stoppers, so much as the cork fabric she saw on the fashion accessories sold in the market stalls. It turns out that this application for cork is only about 10 years old.

Vizer found that the bag she bought was not only stylish, but incredibly durable, standing up to the elements and requiring no waterproofing and only a damp cloth and a little soap to wash it.

Vizer said that when she returned home to Vancouver she couldn't stop thinking about the cork accessories and became determined to find out how they were made and whether anyone was importing them into North America. She called the number on the back of the brochure she had picked up.

It took numerous calls to get to the head of the family-run business that uses a secret patented method to manufacture the cork "fabric." The persistence paid off and, within a few months, Vizer persuaded her husband to take another "holiday" to Portugal, where she got down to business.

It turned out that no one had approached the manufacturer to sell its products in North America and Vizer persuaded them to let her try.

She is the first to admit that she has no experience in importing and marketing a product, but she isn't going to let that stop her. Someone told her that the key to business success is forming relationships and she knows that is something she can do – the rest of it she is learning as she goes.

"Opportunities present themselves when you're open to them," she said, explaining her willingness to launch into uncharted entrepreneurial territory. "At a certain age, you have had enough with 'I should have' or 'Oh, that would be nice' and you go for it. I think you have to get a few experiences in life to realize that 'I should have' is not a good place to be."

It's taken a lot of work, but Vizer now sells her Corkstyle products in select stores throughout Vancouver, Whistler and Tofino and she even designs some of the items herself. Her vendors are extremely happy with the product. Sirchinder Kaur from Granville Island Treasures told the Independent that their store likes Corkstyle because it is an "excellent natural product, a good alternative to leather," adding that "sales are good."

Vizer has plans to expand into a line of cork furniture but, she said, "I don't want it to grow too fast, I want it to grow naturally," much like the cork bark on the trees growing in the hot Portuguese sun.

To learn more, visit www.corkstyle.ca.

Kelley Korbin is a Vancouver freelance writer.

^TOP