"CoRkEd DeSiGnS", a special exhibit at the IDSwest this year, challenged seven designers to create a new product using wine corks. Above Formgiver Design Studios were inspired by all things containing a percentage of alcohol. They decided that the cork should have a chance at being more than a mere stopper and after many experiments created the perfect blend creating a bottle of cork containing light.

And Contexture Design sculpted a series of corks, which were being used to cork 32 bottles of hand crafted 8th Generation Wine. Once removed, the wine-dyed corks make a complete chess set, including 16 white and 16 red wine cork pieces. Custom crates have also been designed for both the red and white wine bottles, which come together to form the chessboard.



And although not made of cork (and not part of the exhibit), we thought this stool (see below) made out of a mixture of rice and glue (the Daisy Stool) was rather interesting coming out from a company in Thailand who has made Vancouver it's home. Maai Living creates Scandinavian-influenced furniture paired with materials from Thailand. We also loved their Shell Dining Chairs made out of hand woven rattan with a stainless steel base (these images from their website). They also make wood furniture (Maai means wood in Thai) using oak,ash or teak.





Stay tuned for Part 4.

IDSwest is running this weekend Oct 14 - 17/10 at the New Vancouver Convention Center. Click here for more details.