Chicon tagua collection in cloud forests of Narino, Colombia
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- Tagua palms live in the upper montane rainforests about 100km inland from the coast of Tumaco in Narino Dept of Colombia. This is where the tagua is collected that we used for the Aveda accessory and for Hope For Women tagua products.
- Tagua trees are indigenous to this area and are just one of the thousands of species that comprise this extremely biodiversity rich forest. There are 29 species of hummingbirds alone that inhabit these forests.
- Lots of rain creates beautiful, clean rivers and streams that cascade through the forest.
- Path leading into the lush, dense rainforest where the chicon tagua is collected.
- Evan Goldsmith (President of Hope For Women) with Ana Maria (one of our partners in Bogota working for Sapia) and Guillermo (a tagua collector from the coast getting his first chance to see the chicon tagua forest).
- Evan checking out a medicinal plant that is used to help with snake bites. Evan asked, "Are there many snakes in this forest?" "SO many" was the reply. He was glad to have those leaves.
- The tagua palm! A tall, beautiful tree (in the center of the photo) that drops its seeds to be collected on the forest floor.
- A chicon tagua after it has fallen from a tree. The relatively soft, outer shell falls off or is eaten by small forest animals. At this stage the tagua seed is hard and is not edible by animals.
- Here is the chicon tagua in its shell, coming out of its shell, with the papery yellow "skin" on it, and without the skin. You can find tagua on the forest floor in all of these forms.
- Local people in the area - indigenous Awa Indians in particular - gather the tagua from the forest floor. The Awa view the chicons as a sustainable source of income from their rainforest.
- Tagua is collected and transported by basket, naturally woven bags (pictured here) and other means.
- A typical Awa home on the outskirts of the rainforest.
- One of the many Awa people that we had the privilege to meet and work with.
- Awa children checking out the visitors to their village.
- Chicons gathered in a traditional basket, ready to be taken out of the rainforest.
- An Awa woman carring tagua out of the rainforest.
- The chicon tagua are then deposited at a central depot.
- The tagua are then bagged and then shipped to Bogota to be distributed to a variety of artisans to be made into products.
- Small tagua, or chicons, arrive at a family-run tagua processing facility in Bogota. There are many of these family-run small businesses in the city where the tagua is transformed by skilled craftspeople.
- Hope For Women President Evan Goldsmith examining the cut tagua and meeting with the tagua processing families.
- Tagua slices are hand cut by skilled craftspeople. Tagua can be custom cut into slices of varying thickness, or into intricate shapes.
- To add color to the tagua, it is immersed in dye and boiled so that the color penetrates into the seed. Only non-toxic, azo-free dyes are utilized.
- Dyed tagua slices that will be made into the Aveda accessory.
- A wide range of colors can be achieved.
- Finished tagua slices are then packaged and delivered to artisan women around Bogota who transform them into finished products.
- Marcela, a tagua artisan working with our partner company Sapia, creates handmade products in her home in a neighborhood on the edge of Bogota city.
- Marcela's home is in one of the neighborhoods that climb up the hills surrounding Bogota - this is the view from her house which is also where she works. Working from home allows her to take better care of her children and be with her family.
View video below to learn about tagua collection
