richpeoplethings shapes surfboard from recycled cork stoppers

richpeoplethings shapes surfboard from recycled cork stoppers
all images courtesy of richpeoplethings

richpeoplethings is a social enterprise located in murcia, spain that was born from the idea of suggesting creative alternatives to an otherwise difficult current situation. the company states, ‘our mission is to create value-added products from raw material that would otherwise be value-less waste. by the name of our company we also want to break taboos and cliches; why when we talk about richness we think about money?’ with this goal in mind, the brand has developed a project titled ‘connecting the corks’. 

following the objective to offer clean alternatives, recycle, and to make use of components that would otherwise be wasted, the initiative has led to a surfboard of cork stoppers. based on their observations, the designers note that ‘just in spain, more than 2500 tons of cork stoppers are thrown away every year. the incredible fiscal and structural properties of the cork make it ideal to build surfboards from it surfboard and to stand the marine environment.’ as a result, throughout the construction of each product, adhesives such as pine resin bees wax provide the base while natural fibers and bioresin are applied as finishes.

detail of the structure 

the enclosed corks have their personality and place in the board. they are placed together six by six, building hexagons in a manner similar to the formations of bees and their honeycombs.

the cork pattern results in a perforated pattern

the board on the water

the board is illuminated by light 

board in progress 

board in progress

different sizes of the boards

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.