BARK CLOTH: easily available Eco Material from Germany
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 10.17.06
After cork fabric, bamboo textiles and corn-based fabric we’d like to introduce BARK CLOTH, which, like its name suggests is made from the bark of Mutuba trees from eco-certified farms in Uganda.
You might have come across BARK CLOTH on a catwalk, seen it light up as a lamp shade or sat on it covering a car seat. The possibilities are endless as this metamorphosing cloth is between a textile and wood. Textures range from fleece- to leather-like and it can be moulded.
The even better news is that BARK CLOTH is 100% organic, not having undergone any textile agents or other chemical treatment during manufacturing. The cloth comes in various sizes (average: 2 x 3 meters), thicknesses and natural tones. The hand-made Patchwork variety is standardised 1.5 x 2.8 meters and won the iF Design Award in 2005. A sister product is BARKTEX, a refined version of BARK CLOTH which has undergone certain treatments with wood, leather agents, dyes, varnishes and coating.
So get creative with this 100% biodegradable material with a million faces. ::BARK CLOTH
