Portugal is a privileged country with 736 thousand hectares of mounted area of cork oak, a large dark green patch spreading over a vast part of the map that places us among the world’s 7 largest cork producers: Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, France, Tunisia and Italy. Beyond the Tagus river, the Mediterranean cork oak, Quercus Suber, is sovereign providing Portugal with almost 190 thousand tons of harvested cork, roughly 50% of the world’s production.
The cork oak is a tree that has to be nurtured and cherished by successive generations. Its productive life begins only after 25 years, when the tree attains a girth of 70 cm and the nine-year cycle of growth and harvest can be initiated to last for 150 years. Because we love Nature, we chose to work within the boundaries of its harmony and preservation.
The passion for cork has led us to create ARTELUSA, an exclusive brand of ITALTEMPO, a company founded in 1998 and dedicated to the research, production and marketing of gift merchandising items for museums and high profile corporate clients. ARTELUSA manufactures handmade fashion products, office supplies and decorative items from high quality Portuguese cork, a raw material, 100% natural, recyclable, biodegradable and durable. And when the nobility of our cork is combined with our talented designers and artisans’ creativity and expertise amazing pieces and irresistible objects are born to entice more and more customers in Portugal and worldwide.
The way we work ranges from the highly sophisticated paper cork, through soft and pliable sheet of wallets and hats, to the virgin cork, handmade in unique pieces where we can still find the rough shape of the bark of cork oak. The variations in tones and textures are intentional which makes each piece truly unique and exclusive.
