Artisan Life Tagua Jewellery from Columbia
'Artisan Life' Jewellery was established in the UK with the purpose of promoting, developing and supporting Colombian artisans and their craft by selling unique handcrafted products, under the highest quality standards. Here at Natural Creations we showcase Tagua jewellery designs by Artisan Life.
The Tagua Seed
Tagua, also known as vegetable ivory, is a seed that comes from the Phytelephas Macrocarpa palm tree, an endangered palm tree that only grows in the tropical rainforests of the South American Pacific coasts. Etymologically, the term Phytelephas Macrocarpa is derived from the Greek phyton: plant and elephas: elephant, making reference to the ivory.Tagua palm trees grow in the humid rainforest, under the canopy, to a height of 20 to 30 feet. Tagua seeds range in sizes from a cherry to a grapefruit and average about the size of a walnut. Chemically they are pure cellulose and before Tagua nuts mature they have a milky sweet liquid in the centre that can be consumed. Tagua nuts have a close grain and very hard and the cellular structure and grain is similar to that of elephant ivory, but is more dense and resilient. Tagua resembles the finest ivory in texture and colour and is slightly softer than mammal ivory and usually contains a void in the centre of the nut.
The Tagua seed has more to offer: the fine dust produced by working the nut serves as an enrichment of live stock feed. Most importantly, tagua is replacing the slaughter of animal ivory (elephants and other) in the textile and fashion industries.
History
For over two hundred years vegetable ivory has been used by ivory carvers in the making of dice, dominoes, and chess pieces. Other uses found were cane and umbrella handles, pipes, mah-jongg tiles, sewing needle cases and the fine art of scrimshaw. In the late eighteen hundreds up through World War II this ivory nut was used to make some of the finest buttons in the clothing industry. For close to eighty years the ivory nut was a commodity of global importance and factories on three continents used to manufacture articles of utility and luxury.
More recently, the use of vegetable ivory, Tagua had virtually disappeared with the increased popularity and reduced costs of plastics. It is still popular with carvers in Japan, but increasingly rare. Ecuador has maintained the industry to a certain extent, but it remains relatively latent. Today, however, vegetable ivory has become increasingly important as the only natural alternative to mammal ivory in the fashion and textile industries.
Production ProcessWhen ripe Tagua nuts fall to the ground naturally, meaning no damage is done to the rainforest during the production process. Tagua nuts need to be dried naturally for a period of up to 2 years after which they become extremely hard (ivory like) and the seeds separate themsleves from there shell; if it is dried in an oven the final product becomes brittle. Once separated from the shell it has a dark skin which must be removed to reveal the beautiful ivory colour. With a bit of polishing the nut has a fantastic finish, ideal for Tagua jewellery and can then be cut into different shapes and forms. It is also possible to dye the seed in a variety of different natural colours. This process reveals the structure and veins of the pure cellulose material giving each piece of Tagua Jewellery an individual aspect and a natural look.
The artisans working with Artisan Life are certified in Colombia by the Administrative Department of the Environment (“DAMA”) and comply with all environmental conservation policies.
