About us

Matias & Neves, Lda is a family business with over 20 years of existence, devoted to the production, transformation and exportation of corks since its beginnings.
With all the experience of the first generation, we are a company that specializes in the production of corks for a multitude of uses, including: spirits, special food products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and all other jars of flasks that need the best 100% natural top.
In a world that is constantly changing, a new generation, young and dynamic, is always looking for the best way to meet their clients needs but
also to evolve and adapt to an ever-changing market.
With an innovative spirit working with an eco-friendly product of the highest standards of quality,with a different vision that adapts to any area or goods, we commit ourselves to finding solutions in any area it can be applied, whether it is décor, furniture, utensils...

A unique product that is extracted,
produced and refined in a singular
way. Made from cork, a product
that is 100% natural, we can
manufacture anything according
to the necessity and creativity of
our clients.
A raw material that is 100%
reusable and 100% recyclable,
extracted from the cork tree
without jeopardizing its future
growth or damaging it in anyway

The history of cork intertwines with humanity. It pleased
the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Babylonians,
Assyrians, Phoenicians and Persians. People, from a very
early stage discovered the potential of the cork tree bark’s
usage in a plethora of everyday items. Long before Christ
was born, cork was already being used in shoes, buoys and
fishing gear. It was used to insulate from the cold and
humidity in the cells of convents. In the 15th and 16th
century it was used in the ships that took the Portuguese
discoverers around the world. Cork has been used for
centuries, enriching its characteristics and showing its
diversified uses.
The first references to cork dates back from 3000 B.C. in
Egypt and Persia, where it was used for fishing. Its unique
qualities were also known to the Babylonians, Assyrians and
Phoenicians. During the classical Greco-Latin periods it was
used in everything, ranging from buoys, honeycombs, shoe
soles and bungs. However, it’s with wine that cork
maintains its strongest bond. Since mankind began
producing wine, cork comes in as the perfect material to
seal the recipients used to preserve it – amphorae, barrels,
bottles. The mass production of cork products only began
in the last quarter of the 18th Century with the larger use
of glass containers.

Cork is a raw material that is 100% natural, reusable and
recyclable, extracted from the cork tree without damaging
it in anyway. All the cork that is extracted is used. After
being transformed into stoppers, it can once again enter
the production process. They can be recycled through
milling. The granules can then be used for other products
such as shoe soles, insulation panels or buoys.
“Peeled every 9 years, without a single tree being cut during
this process, cork gives birth to an infinity of products, from
traditional to cutting edge and even unexpected ones. The
main product is the stopper, unfortunately not all cork can be
used to manufacture such a noble object.”
Every cork tree takes 25 years until it can be peeled for the
first time, and only after its third peeling (at 43 years of age)
the cork, nicknamed «amadia», has the necessary quality to
be used in the production of stoppers. The first two
extractions - «virgin» cork and «secundeira» -, as well as the
peel that is removed from the base of the of the tree are
used for insulation, flooring, and other products ranging
from construction to fashion/design, passing through
health, energy production and even the aerospace industry.

The amount of cork stoppers produced annually would be
enough to wrap the Earth’s perimeter 15 times.

In the 18th century, the cork industry began to flourish in
Portugal, due to growth of the Port wine industry. Stoppers
were cut by hand and the average worker could produce 3
per minute.

The biggest and oldest cork tree in the world is called
Assobiador (“Whistler”). Its name is inspired by the sound
of the songbirds that land on its branches. Planted in 1783,
this cork tree is over 14 meters high and has a trunk
perimeter 4,15 meters.

In the 17th century, Dom Pérignon, a Benedictine monk,
chose cork stoppers to seal his famous champagne. Thebottle believed to be the oldest drinkable champagne the world is protected with a cork stopper. Over 200 years
it remained lost on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, until it was
found in the 21st century in perfect state of preservation.

The cork industry doesn’t destroy trees. After its peeling,
also known as “descortiçamento”, the cork tree begins a
self-regenerative process unseen in any other tree.

A plastic stopper generates 10 times more CO2 that a cork
one. Aluminum capsules generate 24 times more CO2 than
its cork counterpart.