A Portuguese designed and manufactured wood stove was recently given the prestigious international design accolade Red Dot Award 2017 for its Natura Cork stove.
Designed by Portuguese designers Inngage and manufactured in Portugal by stove and boiler manufacturers Solzaima under its Fogo Montanha brand, its high-performance Natura wood stove uses cork as its main outer covering combining aesthetics and function.
The product was awarded Red Dot Award Winner 2017 in the “Household Furniture” category at the award ceremony held July 3 in Essen, Germany.
Harvested from the bark of cork oak (Quercus suber), Portugal is the world’s largest producer accounting for almost 50 percent of global cork production. As a material cork is impermeable, buoyant, elastic, fire retardant, and heat resistant.
A natural appearance and sensory experience
It is the integration of these properties of cork with a high-performance wood stove that swayed the Red Dot jury.
According to the jury motivation statement, the imaginative design of the Natura stove makes it possible not only to see the warming fire but also to feel it with the hands.
The free-standing stove has a steel body, covered with cork profiles. These are not in direct contact with the steel structure, in order to ensure that the natural material does not darken over time.
The cork gives the stove, an industrial object, a natural look. It can be touched and so provides a lasting sensation of the warmth of a fire.
The use of cork gives the Natura stove a natural appearance and offers users a sensory experience of the element fire.
Founded in 1955 by the Design Zentrum NRW in Essen, Germany, the annual Red Dot Award is widely considered to be the “Design Oscar” highlighting good design in products.
The award breaks down into three disciplines: the Red Dot Award: Product Design, Red Dot Award: Communication Design, and Red Dot Award: Design Concept – from products to communication projects and packaging to design concepts and prototypes.
