Quercus Suber, 8th edition of the Quercus Suber competition
Under the enigmatic name of quercus suber lurks a major tree of the Mediterranean basin: the cork oak. Harvested for centuries in the Var region, it still populates the forests today and is found in many everyday objects in Provence. Think of the faouque (also known as a couasse) used to present bouillabaisse or the vegetables in aioli - as much a dish as an expression of the source it is made from: the raw cork bark that preserves the curve of the trunk. Once processed, cork can also be used in compressed or granulated form; it can be found in stoppers, trivets, and plates for construction. A thermal and sound insulator, non-flammable, antifungal, recyclable, light, and robust, its uses are seemingly endless since this material is rich in qualities.
Maintaining cork oak forests is essential to the local ecosystem, as they help slow down fires, stabilise the soil, and provide shelter for flora and fauna. However, over the last sixty years, cork harvesting, which allows the tree to regenerate, has almost disappeared in the Var. This activity requires a large workforce whose economic competitiveness is no match for that of neighbouring countries. The biological balance has been disrupted, businesses are closing, and skills and tools are disappearing.
However, renewed interest is growing thanks to the actions of the Forêt Modèle de Provence organisation, operating within a network of local, national, and European institutions. Among its initiatives is the organisation of the design competition whose projects are presented here. The designers are invited to create objects and furniture made mainly from cork. The villa Noailles co-organises the competition, bringing together a jury and two exhibitions (in May during the Cork Days, then throughout the summer during Design Parade). This showcase aims to restore the cork oak in all its cultural, artistic, and scientific aspects.
Since 2016, the arts centre and the organisation have successfully built up a local network of professionals, from farmers to the craftspeople who work with the material. The influence of this sustainable commitment is apparent in the new products made of cork from the Var: the Mass series of shelves by Dutch duo Odd Matter and the Chêne & Liège furniture line launched in 2023 by French designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance through his Made in situ editions.
This year, the competing designers are once again innovating through their creations and the development of green materials. They designed objects exploiting the specific characteristics of cork. Two trends are emerging: mono-material objects made possible by burning, which releases suberine, cork’s natural glue, and composite elements incorporating natural fibres or industrial waste.
This new impetus offers production and distribution prospects, supported by craft and industry. It shows, if proof were needed, that cork maintains its rightful place in contemporary design.
The 2025 winners:
Baptiste Da Silva, 1e prix
Charles Guerlain et Marion Saxod (Nysædition), 2e prix
Margaux Lebreton, Coralie Casal et Marie Augustin, 3e prix
Fabrice Peyrolles, prix d’encouragement
The finalists:
Enzo Audion
Manon Caproni
Maël Couvant
Salomé Hechaichi, Samuel Basquin, Romé Bousquet
Margaux Lebreton, Coralie Casal Tavares, Marie Augustin
Philippe Lopez
Antoine Rouxel et Elouan Tran Ba Tho
Clara Tardieu
Elias Vasseur-Dorangeville, Idrys Mannaï, Juliette Rollet
Philippe-Gabriel Villard
Aymen Zeryouh
The jury:
Sandie Tolardo, la Gazette du flamant rose, directrice artistique
Clément Rougelot et Kevin Dolci, fondateurs de 13 desserts, éditeurs de design
Fanny, Curiosités de Neptune, créatrice de bijoux
Franck Lapointe, fondateur de Bob carrelage
SET DESIGN: Joachim Jirou-Najou
The Quercus suber, or cork oak, is an emblematic tree of the Mediterranean basin whose bark has been harvested since Antiquity for its unique properties: lightness, impermeability, and thermal and acoustic insulation. In the Var, this historic industry is now under threat: where 10,000 tonnes of cork were harvested per year a century ago, production today stands at just 250 tonnes.
To address this challenge, villa Noailles has partnered for several years with the association Forêt Modèle de Provence, co-organising the Quercus Suber competition. In 2026, 28 finalists are competing across two categories: Design and Wood Turning. Students from the École Boulle, ENSCI and the École Camondo Méditerranée, alongside independent professionals and studios, have all worked with locally sourced cork.
The works were exhibited during the Journées du Liège on 25 and 26 April, and the design competition entries are on display throughout the summer as part of Design Parade (26 June – 30 August). The villa Noailles will also host a series of lectures, Les Jeudis du Liège, on 2 and 23 July and 13 and 27 August at 6 pm.
François Champsaur,
Designer and Interior Architect
Emma François,
Founder of the Sessùn brand
Frédéric Joulian,
Senior Lecturer at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
Victor Ravel,
Designer and Manager of Poterie Ravel
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1 Carolina Mandia
A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, she approaches cork with a feel for supple materials and for surface, inherited from textile and fashion design. She presents a textile hanging in which cork is braided and assembled, revealing a soft, supple tactile dimension. -
2 Baptiste Legendre & Louise Julien
DNMADE students at the Lycée Camille Claudel in Blois, they lay claim to an experimental approach to seating. Their piece pushes cork into a conical form, questioning the limits of its plasticity. -
3 Louise Lefebvre
A graduate of the École Camondo Méditerranée, she sees cork as a ground for formal experimentation rather than a mere coating. Her game board plays on the cutting of the material and the contrast between its colours. -
4 Baptiste Da Silva — Studio Beysta
A graduate of the École Supérieure de Design de Troyes and founder of Studio Beysta, he develops an object practice attentive to materials and their stories. He presents wall lights in which cork is left raw, asserting the material as the very principle of the design.. -
5 Atelier JAM - Grand Prize of the competition
Founded by graduates of the ENSCI – Les Ateliers, the Atelier JAM tests its research against the concrete constraints of the Var cork oak. Its lighting piece employs pleating techniques, bringing local resource and object design into dialogue. -
6 Maylis Julliard
A student at the Lycée Perrin in Marseille, she approaches cork from the sensibility of an emerging Mediterranean practice, attentive to nearby resources. Her proposal explores textures, making the Var cork oak its primary material -
7 Maël Couvant
A student at the École Camondo Méditerranée, across three vases he has sought to draw a dialogue between expanded black cork and a glaze made from maritime-pine resin sourced from the forests of Provence, coloured with chlorophyll. -
8 Pierre Brunet & Charlotte Bigarnet
— Atelier Menescal
A journeyman of the Compagnons du Tour de France and a graduate of the ENSA Montpellier and the Compagnons respectively, they have come together within the Atelier Menescal; their folding screen weaves craftsmanship with an architectural eye. It draws on a dialogue between several materials and textures to make cork at once structure and ornament. -
9 Stanislas Dieupart
A graduate of the ENSA Paris-Belleville and the École Camondo, he brings an architect’s eye to cork, moving between the scale of space and the scale of the object. His chair draws on the structural properties of the material for everyday use, with a deliberate economy of means. -
10 Romane Séguret,
Beverly Ly & Éloïse Massé
DNMADE students at the Lycée Camille Claudel in Blois, these three designers pursue a collective inquiry into the contemporary uses of cork, in a playful and graphic register. -
11 Enzo Audion & Renan Lhonorey
Students at the École Boulle, this duo combines demanding craftsmanship with a culture of object design. Their work on lamps draws on cork for its lightness and ergonomics. -
12 Mathilde Lhérault
Trained at the École Camondo Méditerranée, she situates her work within an interior-architecture approach in which cork becomes surface as much as structure. She presents totems in which cork is honoured, sanded and coloured. -
13 Alice Roux
A graduate in industrial design from Sèvres, she presents vases that question the place of cork in everyday objects, in an approach centred on use and production.
In partnership with: Forêt Modèle de Provence, the Escoulen Woodturning School, the Toulon Provence Méditerranée Metropolitan Area, the Ministry of Culture, the Sud Region, the Var Department, and the City of HyèresWith support from: Atelier Mériguet-Carrère (paintings)