Cork, the bark Portugal harvests every nine years

Portugal grows around half of the world's cork, on the montado, a landscape of cork oaks and grazing land across the Alentejo and up toward the Douro. A tree gives its first usable bark at about twenty five years, and after that it is stripped every nine years for the rest of its life, which can be two centuries. The harvesters work in early summer with hand axes, cutting and levering the bark off in curved planks without touching the living layer underneath. The tree is painted with the year of the harvest and left to grow a new coat.

Bottle stoppers take the best planks. The rest is boiled, flattened and cut into sheets, and the thinnest sheets, backed with cotton, become cork fabric: soft, light, water resistant and easy to clean, which is why makers in Porto use it for bags, wallets and coasters. It ages like leather, darkening a little with the hands that carry it, and it comes from a tree that is still standing.

Ateliers in Porto pair cork with the city's other trade, the painted azulejo tile, and list both on 1VIM with their pin on the Douro. The landed price shows before you pay, the parcel comes with customs prefilled, and the material in your hands grew back on the same tree the year after it was cut. The Porto region page shows who is making with it today.