Tagua Ivory Jewelry

Artesanias Garman Tagua Nut Vegetable Ivory Jewelry
www.ecuadorcraftwholesale.com All about this Eco-Friendly Product

The tagua nut is a dried seedpod from an Ama-
zonian palm tree that grows in the tropical rain
forests of South America. The nut from the
tagua plant is known as “vegetable ivory” for its
creamy white appearance, virtually identical to
the ivory taken from elephant tusks. The tagua
“ivory nut” is used in jewelry, beads, buttons
and many handicrafts produced throughout Ec-
uador, employing approximately 50,000 people.
Resembling the finest ivory in texture and color,
it is just slightly softer.

At the Otavalo market and indeed throughout Ecuador, you can find all types of
decorative items made with this material: small decorative animals, bracelets, ear-
rings, necklaces, rings, buttons, back scratchers, pendants, Christmas ornaments and
beads. Jewelry made from tagua is popular with
women throughout the world. And modern de-
signers are incorporating tagua beads into the
production of natural jewelry and hip clothing.

In Ecuador the Tagua palm grows in Carchi, Es-
meraldas, Manabi, Guayas and El Oro provinc-
es. It’s a thorny tree averaging five to six meters
in height, and it takes 15 years for the tagua palm
tree to begin bearing fruit. After that, the plant
provides three nut harvests annually. Tagua nuts
grow in large studded armoured pods, each pod
the size of a grapefruit or melon, and containing
four or more large seeds. The pods fall to the
ground when they are ripe, and are gathered and
dried from four to eight weeks, after which the
seeds are removed.
The tagua nuts, or seeds, vary in size from that
of a small olive to as large as an orange, but
the average size is about that of a walnut, two

Artesanias Garman Atahualpa #3 & Cristobal Colon, Otavalo, Ecuador
Phone: 593-629-26936 Cel: 593-801-38797
www.ecuadorcraftwholesale.com Email: otavalomarket@gmail.com


inches (or 5 cm) long. The small size of the
nut limits the size of the articles that can be
crafted from them. Therefore many artisans
combine several tagua nuts to make a larger
piece. The tagua nuts have a natural brown
skin. To obtain a marbled look, the skin is
partially peeled and then polished. For the
creamy white ivory color, the skins are re-
moved completely before polishing. Other
colors are obtained by using natural dyes ex-
tracted from flowers, fruits, roots, leaves, and
seeds. Using saws, tagua nuts are sliced and
cut into various shapes, and then have holes
drilled into them depending on the end pur-
pose and design.

The tagua nut has a long history. From the late nineteenth century up until the end of
World War II, a tagua nut industry flourished on three continents. Known as corozzo
or corozo in Europe, the tagua nut was used to make fine buttons for the clothing
industry, some even being used on United States Army uniforms. Many of the finest

Phone: 593-629-26936 Cel: 593-801-38797


“ivory” items of the Victorian era, such as jewelry, dice, dominoes, chess pieces and
cane handles were made from carved tagua. Umbrella handles, piano keys, pipes,
and items with the fine art of scrimshaw were also produced during this time period.
The invention of synthetic plastics ended the widespread popularity of tagua. High
quality items were more frequently made from animal ivory, taken from elephants,
walruses and whales. Today vegetable ivory is staging a comeback because many
ivory bearing animals have been hunted to near extinction and are now on the en-
dangered species list.

Phone: 593-629-26936 Cel: 593-801-38797


Today many people are enlightened about
the need to protect the environment and
ensure the survival of endangered spe-
cies. Like the ivory from elephants, tagua
is totally natural. But no animals are de-
stroyed in harvesting this renewable re-
source. Tagua products provide income
for those dwelling within the Amazon
rain forest, and are harvested without
any harm to the tree. In fact, one tagua
palm tree produces the same amount of
“ivory” per year as that obtained form the
destruction of a female elephant. And the
Tagua Tripod Massager tagua palm tree will continue to produce
“vegetable ivory” for year after year as
the nuts that fall to the ground are har-
vested and processed.

Tagua Necklaces, Bracelets and Rings.
Stylish, eco and animal friendly, support
the lives of the Amazon Indigenous.

Artesanias Garman exports tagua to the
wholesale trade, worldwide. Contact us for
access to our wholesale catalog.

Phone: 593-629-26936 Cel: 593-801-38797

Tagua Ivory Jewelry

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