Colombia Dispatch 8: The Tagua Industry

Sometimes called "vegetable ivory," tagua is a white nut that grows in Colombia that is making a comeback as a commodity worth harvesting

  • By Kenneth Fletcher
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Tagua jewelry Women assemble tagua jewelry at the Tagueria in Bogota.

Kenneth R. Fletcher

 

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    Tagua jewelry

    Colombia Dispatch 8: The Tagua Industry

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    During World War I and World War II, some of the buttons on U.S. military uniforms were carved out of tagua, a durable white nut about the size of a golf ball that grows on a South American palm tree. The material was cheaper than ceramic or metal, so exporting tagua became a major industry in Colombia and Ecuador beginning around 1900. By the second half of the 20th century, demand halted with the popularization of plastic. Today the material is mostly forgotten in the United States.

    But tagua is making a comeback, this time as a decorative novelty. While Ecuador now has a burgeoning tagua trade, Colombia's resources are only starting to be retapped. In Bogota, I visited La Tagueria, a factory in the city's gritty industrial zone. Forty employees process about 10 tons of tagua annually into colorful, intricately carved jewelry and decorations.

    Tagua, sometimes called "vegetable ivory," is "the only plant product that produces a material this white, durable and pure," says factory owner Alain Misrachi.

    Today tagua is more expensive than plastic, but Misrachi says it is a valuable alternative crop that helps preserve the region's tropical forests. The palm grows in the wild at lower elevations across Colombia, so there is no need to start tagua plantations. Locals collect fruit from the forest floor year-round after it falls from the tree, and the seeds are then extracted and dried.

    Misrachi travels to remote regions of Colombia where native tagua grows in dense patches to speak with locals about harvesting the resource. Most remember the collecting process from stories told by their grandparents, who lived during tagua's heyday in the early 20th century. Today, radio ads produced by a La Tagueria buyer in the southern Pacific coast announce prices per kilogram for tagua. Locals bring the crop to him, and he them ships them to Bogota.

    Misrachi hopes that tagua will become an alternative to more common environmentally destructive plantations, including illegal crops like coca. "Tagua palms are disappearing," he says. "We tell them not to cut down these palms, they are valuable."

    Misrachi started working in his uncle's synthetic button factory in 1977, but soon became interested in tagua as an alternative. In the mid 1980s they started manufacturing buttons from Ecuadorian tagua and in 2000 he rediscovered Colombian sources of tagua and soon began branching to make jewelry other products. The Tagueria has enjoyed a lot of success, and now exports to Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia.

    I went on a factory tour with Misrachi's son, Dylan, to learn the whole process from nut to necklace. Workers dump bags of nuts fresh from the jungle into tumblers with sand and water that strips the nuts brown skin and leaves them a gleaming white. The work is then mostly done by hand, as employees slice the nuts with band saws, tint them in simmering pots of colorful dye and assemble the pieces into myriad shapes, sizes and colors. The end result is a great variety of buttons, necklaces, bracelets and frames.

    Dylan showed me photos from a recent trip he took to Ecuador, where tagua palms are always left standing in the middle of cattle pasture and locals fill warehouses with nuts awaiting export. The Misrachi family hopes that Colombia can take a similar role in the tagua trade. "It's important to be conscious of this natural product with it's own value," Alain Misrachi says. "With our work we hope to preserve this palm so the people will take care of it and create local crafts."


    During World War I and World War II, some of the buttons on U.S. military uniforms were carved out of tagua, a durable white nut about the size of a golf ball that grows on a South American palm tree. The material was cheaper than ceramic or metal, so exporting tagua became a major industry in Colombia and Ecuador beginning around 1900. By the second half of the 20th century, demand halted with the popularization of plastic. Today the material is mostly forgotten in the United States.

    But tagua is making a comeback, this time as a decorative novelty. While Ecuador now has a burgeoning tagua trade, Colombia's resources are only starting to be retapped. In Bogota, I visited La Tagueria, a factory in the city's gritty industrial zone. Forty employees process about 10 tons of tagua annually into colorful, intricately carved jewelry and decorations.

    Tagua, sometimes called "vegetable ivory," is "the only plant product that produces a material this white, durable and pure," says factory owner Alain Misrachi.

    Today tagua is more expensive than plastic, but Misrachi says it is a valuable alternative crop that helps preserve the region's tropical forests. The palm grows in the wild at lower elevations across Colombia, so there is no need to start tagua plantations. Locals collect fruit from the forest floor year-round after it falls from the tree, and the seeds are then extracted and dried.

    Misrachi travels to remote regions of Colombia where native tagua grows in dense patches to speak with locals about harvesting the resource. Most remember the collecting process from stories told by their grandparents, who lived during tagua's heyday in the early 20th century. Today, radio ads produced by a La Tagueria buyer in the southern Pacific coast announce prices per kilogram for tagua. Locals bring the crop to him, and he them ships them to Bogota.

    Misrachi hopes that tagua will become an alternative to more common environmentally destructive plantations, including illegal crops like coca. "Tagua palms are disappearing," he says. "We tell them not to cut down these palms, they are valuable."

    Misrachi started working in his uncle's synthetic button factory in 1977, but soon became interested in tagua as an alternative. In the mid 1980s they started manufacturing buttons from Ecuadorian tagua and in 2000 he rediscovered Colombian sources of tagua and soon began branching to make jewelry other products. The Tagueria has enjoyed a lot of success, and now exports to Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia.

    I went on a factory tour with Misrachi's son, Dylan, to learn the whole process from nut to necklace. Workers dump bags of nuts fresh from the jungle into tumblers with sand and water that strips the nuts brown skin and leaves them a gleaming white. The work is then mostly done by hand, as employees slice the nuts with band saws, tint them in simmering pots of colorful dye and assemble the pieces into myriad shapes, sizes and colors. The end result is a great variety of buttons, necklaces, bracelets and frames.

    Dylan showed me photos from a recent trip he took to Ecuador, where tagua palms are always left standing in the middle of cattle pasture and locals fill warehouses with nuts awaiting export. The Misrachi family hopes that Colombia can take a similar role in the tagua trade. "It's important to be conscious of this natural product with it's own value," Alain Misrachi says. "With our work we hope to preserve this palm so the people will take care of it and create local crafts."

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    Comments (8)

    Hello , I am glad to read this report , can u pls inform me the inforamtion of " La Taqueria " , i am search for tagua jewelry , and i need to add this item to my business in Central America , Thanks !

    Posted by Selina on February 25,2011 | 06:20 AM

    We´r very happy for the comments about our company. Many thanks to all. You can contact us: info@latagueria.com or visit our web site www.latagueria.com and see more pictures on www.flickr.com/photos/latagueria Alain

    Posted by Alain Misrachi on September 6,2010 | 12:31 PM

    Good morning,
    I'm writing from Italy,
    I would like to know if it is possibile importo tagua and who I have to contact for do this.

    many thanks
    marzia

    Posted by marzia grilanda on May 4,2010 | 05:08 AM

    You can find their contact information by typing in Google "La Tagueria" Bogota, be sure to use a G not a Q after the first A! Website with phone and email is http://www.latagueria.com. A wonderful business!!!

    Posted by B on April 9,2010 | 11:41 AM

    Tagua nut or Vegetable Ivory do not come from the root of a tree. The Tagua nuts grow in large armoured clusters with each cluster containing many nuts. Each nut is slice or cut depending what you would like to make. Please find more information at www.pueblito.ca/materials.php
    Pueblito is a Canadian company and we wholesale fair trade tagua items, we ship from Colombia or Canada. Contact us at ana@pueblito.ca

    Posted by Ana Corradine on October 9,2009 | 10:42 PM

    In 1972, while living in the Panama Canal Zone, we purchased a large mirror in Bogota, Colombia, and its frame was made of intricately carved "vegetable ivory." We also purchased several smaller carved animals and figurines of the same material. In Colombia we were told that "vegetable ivory" comes from the root of a tree. Everything I read on the internet states that "vegetable ivory" comes from the palm nut called Tagua. There is no indication of small nuts being pieced together, so how is it possible to have these large items of "vegetable ivory?" I would appreciate any feedback from those familiar with "vegetable ivory."

    Posted by Marty Fry on August 3,2009 | 05:54 PM

    Please I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THE CONTACT INFORMATION FOR LA tagueria in colimbia for my business in canada.Thank you,

    Posted by Alexandra Ocampo on May 27,2009 | 11:20 AM

    This report is very intersting. I would like to have the contact information for "La Tagueria" in Colombia. I would like to start the "tagua" business from US. Thank you,

    Posted by Jenny Bahamon on March 30,2009 | 10:20 PM

    Can someone email me a contact address of an ecobusiness that exports tagua nuts for growing?. I would like to add tagua to my tropical palm collection.

    Posted by Patrick on March 30,2009 | 05:29 AM

    Excelent!!!! report the Tagua in Colombia S.A. Please, I need the information ( phone, & Adress in Bogota Colombia ) Tagueria in zona Industrial. I am Colombian y live in San Antonio Texas USA. Thank so much!!!!

    Posted by Patricia Reilly on February 27,2009 | 05:26 PM

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