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title: "How It's Made — Inside Our European Workshops | PIERRE"
description: "Cork harvested in Portugal, wool sewn in Bulgaria, neoprene recovered from old wetsuits. Follow each piece from raw material to finished product."
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![Harvested cork oak forest in Portugal](/__l5e/assets-v1/28a7ece4-c29a-4311-b31d-c26cbeb7ec77/cork-forest.jpg?w=1440&q=55)

How It's Made

# 100% Made in Europe

Cork harvested in Portugal. Wool and textiles sewn in Bulgaria. Neoprene recovered from end-of-life wetsuits. Every PIERRE product is made on the continent it's sold in, by workshops chosen for one thing they do exceptionally well.

![One of the oldest cork oak trees, stripped of bark](/__l5e/assets-v1/2959bf7a-fe47-49f1-9eb2-1bc29b9cf5ef/oldest-cork-tree.jpg?w=1280&q=55)

![Harvester stripping bark from a cork oak by hand](/__l5e/assets-v1/9fb3eaf5-b848-48d5-8963-3f6f3e2f9ddd/cork-harvest.jpg?w=640&q=70)

![Workers sorting recovered wine corks in the atelier](/__l5e/assets-v1/17862995-12e2-45c5-95a7-c978c8483839/cork-sorting-atelier.jpg?w=640&q=70)

![Cork granulate poured into a mould](/__l5e/assets-v1/e7d68761-c573-454c-b069-05428adac2eb/recycork-granulate.png?w=640&q=70)

Portugal

## Bark, Not Timber

Cork comes from the montados — a savannah-like landscape of cork oak and holm oak covering more than a million hectares of Portugal, so rich in wildlife it is sometimes called the Iberian Serengeti.

The bark is stripped by hand every nine to ten years and the tree regenerates a new layer. Felling a cork oak is prohibited by law. A single tree can be harvested fifteen to twenty times across two and a half centuries, and the grove is left intact rather than cleared for intensive agriculture. Portugal produces around half the world's cork each year.

The grades that don't meet the standard for wine stoppers are what we use. Offcuts and granulate are pressed into our mats, blocks and rollers. Cork is light, impermeable, naturally rot-resistant and warm underfoot, and its grip improves with moisture rather than deteriorating — which is why it outperforms synthetics as a practice surface.

![Sewing a wool mat cover on an industrial machine](/__l5e/assets-v1/90703875-afde-436e-b113-f27d4826e7b8/sewing-wool-cover.jpg?w=1280&q=55)

![Raw fleece being carded in the workshop](/__l5e/assets-v1/287b2a51-ddab-4f85-84ac-2337ac2dda5d/wool-carding.jpg?w=640&q=70)

![Laying quilted wool on the cutting table](/__l5e/assets-v1/87f84dec-c461-439c-9674-e3a310dad04e/quilting-table.jpg?w=640&q=70)

![Filling and sewing bolsters in the atelier](/__l5e/assets-v1/784e3c15-4ba4-4d81-a42d-986a40c10bd7/bolster-sewing-atelier.jpg?w=640&q=70)

Bulgaria

## Carded, Quilted, Sewn

Wool mat covers, bolsters and cushions are made in a family-run textile workshop in Bulgaria with three decades of experience in quilted goods.

Raw fleece arrives in bales and is carded, laid to an even weight, quilted and finished on the same floor. Bolsters are filled with kapok — a light, breathable plant fibre that holds its shape without compacting the way foam does.

Working with a specialist rather than a general manufacturer means the construction gets scrutinised. Several products in the current range exist in their present form because the workshop proposed a better way to build them.

Stitching a wool mat cover

![The sewing floor, stitching bags and covers](/__l5e/assets-v1/b1fc5239-65d6-4673-b947-d0884249a093/sewing-floor-bags.jpg?w=1024&q=70)

![Exterior of the production facility](/__l5e/assets-v1/1299c91b-8624-4f2c-a881-8760870e8d31/production-facility.jpg?w=1024&q=70)

![A pile of end-of-life wetsuits collected for recycling](/__l5e/assets-v1/e7bce3a5-cef3-44eb-981c-d19a2613b5ed/wetsuit-recycling-pile.jpg?w=1280&q=55)

![Crated neoprene offcuts beside finished sheet material](/__l5e/assets-v1/6ad3edcb-36ce-4a95-9bf5-aa081a095c82/neoprene-offcuts-crate.jpg?w=640&q=70)

![A stack of finished recycled black mats](/__l5e/assets-v1/13dca320-86b5-4e78-bf4c-e6bd5d997638/recycled-mat-stack.jpg?w=640&q=70)

Bulgaria

## Neoprene, Recovered

Neoprene does not biodegrade. Every wetsuit manufactured is still in existence somewhere, and end-of-life suits are among the harder pieces of sports equipment to dispose of responsibly.

We source them, sort them, and have them cut down, ground and pressed into new sheet material. That sheet becomes mats and blocks — and the flecks of colour running through the finished black surface are the original suits, still visible in the material. No two pieces are identical, because no two batches are.

The result is a dense, high-grip surface well suited to studio use, made entirely from material that already existed.

Leaving the Workshop

## Compressed, Sealed, Shipped

Products are compressed, sealed and packed in the same facility where they are made, then shipped directly across Europe. No intermediate warehousing, no re-handling, no third country in the chain.

Compression and sealing

## The Standard We Work To

### 100% Made in Europe

Portugal, Bulgaria, Spain and Italy — manufactured on the continent where it's sold.

### Natural and Recovered Materials

Cork bark that regrows, wool and kapok, neoprene recovered from end-of-life wetsuits.

### Built to Last

Specified for daily studio use, not seasonal replacement.

## Equipping a Studio, Hotel or Spa?

PIERRE manufactures and brands equipment for wellness spaces across Europe.

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Natural, comfortable, anti-slip yoga & pilates mats — handcrafted in Europe.

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