RODA Cortica cork planters and flower pots

Cork outdoor planters

Tree bark, rebuilt

The round planter and the square one each measure about 20 inches across. The rectangle stretches to about 39 inches, long enough for a row of herbs or a low hedge along a railing. Every edge is rounded, so the pots look soft and almost carved. Set together in a group, the three shapes read like pieces cut from the same log.

The material is brown cork: granules of cork held together by resins from the plant itself and treated with high-temperature steam. Cork is light for its size and water resistant, and it is a natural insulator, so the soil inside heats up more slowly on a sunny deck than it would in a thin metal pot. The surface keeps its matte, slightly grainy texture outdoors.

Each Cortica piece comes with a cork plug for the drain hole in its base. With the hole open it works as a planter, draining freely after watering. With the plug in it becomes a closed flower pot, which is useful on a balcony where runoff would drip onto the floor below, or indoors on a covered porch.

RODA's in-house studio designed Cortica, and cork sits well next to teak, rope and powder coated aluminum from the other families. It is Italian outdoor furniture in a completely natural material, and the only choices are which shapes and how many. A line of the long planters can also mark the edge of a dining area on a roof terrace.

Brown cork pots with a cork plug in the base.

Designer

RODA Studio

Cortica was developed by the in-house design team at RODA, which brought the company's interest in natural, recyclable materials to a planter shaped like a piece of tree trunk.