Photo credit: Nove Lighting
NOVE Lighting was founded by interior designer and stylist Kirsty Saxon. Having visited Portugal on numerous styling trips, Kirsty fell in love with the country and its history of skilled craftsmanship, particularly in the creation of cork products. NOVE was born out of the desire to create design-led lighting from a sustainable and beautiful natural material.
Photo credit: Nove Lighting
NOVE in Portuguese means the number nine. A cork tree can be harvested once it is 25 years old, and after that only once every nine years. It therefore seemed natural to link the name of the brand to this wonderful material. It is the bark of the Cork Oak tree that is the cork. This is the part of the tree that is harvested (the tree itself is not cut down) and it is also self-regenerative, making this a highly sustainable material. A cork tree will live for approximately 200 years and is in no way harmed during the harvesting process which is carried out with no machinery, just the skill of human labour. To harvest the cork of one tree will require the work of up to five trained people with just a small, sharp axe.
Photo Credit: Nove Lighting
"Cork has unique properties that no other material in the world is comparable to. It is one of the ultimate sustainable materials. In addition to it being natural, lightweight, impermeable, buoyant, elastic, and having fire retardant properties, it is also biodegradable, renewable and recyclable. Even the smallest grains left over from the production of cork are being used to create power for their factories."
Photo Credit: Nove Lighting
To bring her lighting designs to life, Kirsty with a background of product development works alongside a wonderful Portuguese family who have been specialising in cork craft for 50 years. Each light is assembled by hand with the utmost care and attention here in the UK with an established British lighting company.
Photo Credit: Nove Lighting