Colombia

The Plant

The tagua palm belongs to the phyltelephas acquatorialis (equatorial elephant plant) species and grows abundantly along the banks of tropical rivers in Colombia. Large globular clusters of seed-bearing fruits, the size of a melon, grow at the base of the female plant. Each fruit is studded with pointed horns and contains four or more large seeds. A single palm can produce fifty pounds of nuts a year.

History

The tagua palm is native to the rainforest, but its seeds found their way to the highlands, where artists in Boyacá developed a tradition of carving them over a hundred years ago. In the 19th century, tagua seeds were probably shipped abroad from the Magdalena River in the Momposino Depression. Known for its hardness and texture as vegetable ivory, it became a valuable export commodity in the nineteenth century, used for making buttons. At this time, tagua seeds were also used as ballast for ships traveling to Europe and the United States. In the 1950s, newly developed synthetic materials replaced the large-scale use of the tagua seed.

Today, artisans still work with tagua—carving it with, gouges, electrical lathes, and scrimshaw tools to fashion useful and decorative objects of great beauty.

Juan César Bonilla turns a tagua nut on a lathe that he has adapted to hold the rounded seed.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Juan César Bonilla keeps his small tools in a traditional highlands fique (a type of sisal).

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Although most pieces are turned on the lathe, Juan César Bonilla joined several tagua seeds and carved this figurine of a typical Andean highlands farmer by hand.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

In the 19th century, buttons were often carved from tagua seeds. Juan César Bonilla carved these buttons at the restaging of the Colombia program in Bogotá.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

A display of vases that still have some of the husk, a design element that Juan César Bonilla incorporates in his work and which differentiates his pieces from those made from synthetic materials.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Julia Patricia Vergara, Juan César Bonilla’s partner and wife, draws a tagua palm on a miniature vase.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Using a magnifying glass, Juan César Bonilla reveals a miniature chess piece he carved at the 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He fabricates several different sizes of chess sets, the miniature ones being the most intricate and time intensive.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

The sign outside Juan César Bonilla and his wife Julia Patricia Vergara’s shop. Bonilla’s father founded the Fábrica de Artesanías en Tagua in Tinajacá in the Andean Highlands.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

The streets of the town of Tinjacá are lined with shops that sell tagua crafts. Juan César Bonilla’s shop is adjacent to his workshop. He enjoys demonstrating the process to passing shoppers. He also markets his work nationally and internationally—in places as far away as Japan.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

The discarded husk and seed shavings can be recycled in creative ways.

Photo by Michelle Arbeit, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Juan César Bonilla explains: “Given the economic situation of our country, it is very important for us to pursue tagua as an occupation and generate manual work. Our goal is to continue the tradition. In fact, I am already shaping the fourth and fifth generations.” His son, Samuel Andrés Bonilla, is now learning the craft.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Juan César Bonilla and Julia Patricia Vergara make decorative paper from tagua shavings.

Photo by Cristina Díaz-Carrera, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Juan César Bonilla González and his Repertoire

Master carver Juan César Bonilla is from a family that has been working with tagua for generations. In his workshop in the town of Tinjacá in the state of Boyacá in the Colombian highlands, Juan César has modified a lathe and his carving tools for shaping and polishing his pieces. He likes to leave some of the husk on the seed to distinguish his finished pieces from crafts made with synthetic materials.

Juan César has seeds in storage that are twenty and thirty years old. The seeds become denser with age and acquire a deep golden hue.  His knowledge of his materials is deep. He explains, “At age six or seven, we learn to carefully choose the raw material, recognize how long it has been drying, and the amount of moisture in the seed. We learn to figure out where the seed has cracked inside while drying. By knowing the condition the seed is in we can work it and transform it.”

Juan César learned his craft from his father, who founded the Fábrica de Artesanías en Tagua which Juan César now runs. While his father was famous for carving miniscule chess sets, Juan César has expanded his repertoire to decorative pieces, jewelry, and toys. Occasionally he carves pieces by hand—but this is time intensive and it is difficult to find customers who appreciate their value. He markets his work nationally and internationally; and among the jobs he receives are orders for conventions and other business events. His wife Julia Patricia Vergara is also an artist. She enjoys working with Juan César in his workshop, and occasionally she draws landscapes on his pieces.

Community Sustainability

Juan César is among the fourth and fifth generation of tagua carvers in the region, and he works hard to promote the craft throughout the country.  He likes to travel to the rainforest regions where tagua palm grows to do workshops. He describes how tagua carving offers alternative employment opportunities in Colombia and how tagua products have the potential to generate five times the income of banana plantation and cattle ranch workers and help protect the endangered rainforests of South America. He is also concerned about the debris that results from tagua carving.  He and Julia Patricia have experimented with transforming the discarded material into decorative paper and gift packages. And he offers recycling workshops to the local community.