I am not artistic at all, but I love to watch people who are! This summer, both the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park have artisans from around the world demonstrating their skills. The other day I was mesmerized as Leonor Alfonso, a tagua nut carver from Ecuador, demonstrated her craft in front of the Zoo’s Treehouse Trader gift shop. Using a sander and Dremel tool, Leonor can take a plain-looking brown tagua nut and transform it into a turtle just emerging from its shell, a hummingbird sipping nectar, or an iguana on the prowl. It’s amazing to watch her in action!
Tagua nut before carving begins
Tagua “nuts” are really large seeds from the tagua palm. They are often called “vegetable ivory” for their ivory-like color and texture. Real ivory comes from the trunk of an elephant or the tooth of a hippo and is therefore quite expensive, as the animal does not willingly donate these items! Tagua nuts, on the other hand, are dropped by the palm and picked up from the ground with no harm done to the tree. They range in size from a grape to a large tomato.
For larger pieces, Leonor glues several tagua nuts together.
Tagua palms grow wild near Leonor’s small town (population around 150!) of Recinto Pagiza, a 9-hour bus trip from Ecuador’s capitol, Quito. The villagers didn’t realize that the tagua nuts that were so plentiful could be turned into a sustainable profit until a fair trade organization called ProPueblo introduced them to the possibility. Leonor told me she welcomed the chance to learn how to carve tagua nuts into jewelry, animal-shaped figurines, and even chess pieces.
Leonor is constantly honing her skills to improve her carvings. For example, many of her ideas for animals come from photos in magazines. When she arrived at the San Diego Zoo and saw our herd of giraffes, she realized she hadn’t been carving them accurately: she had been making their hind ends too large and boxy! Now that she’s at the Zoo for the summer, Leonor has some new animal inspirations and has come to love our “cute and cuddly” giant pandas and our “impressive” silverback gorilla. She enjoys meeting Zoo visitors and showing them how she can turn rock-hard tagua nuts into whimsical frogs, armadillos, camels, macaws, and more. If you like, she can carve a name into any of the pieces or if you have a special request, just bring a photo of the animal you’d like her to make. Leonor has one word of caution: Don’t try to eat these works of art: tagua nuts are rock hard and have absolutely no taste!
Leonor Alfonso with her tagua nut menagerie.
Leonor says she is so grateful for this opportunity to be at the Zoo this summer, doing what she loves and helping to support her family back home using such a sustainable resource. She’s now busy carving panda cubs in anticipation of a successful panda birth next month. I hope you can come by soon to watch this talented artisan at work, Tuesdays through Sundays, now through September 6. You’ll be amazed!
Debbie Andreen is an associate editor for the San Diego Zoo.
Note: Leonor’s pieces are available for purchase at the Zoo’s Treehouse Trader gift shop and online at shopzoo.com.
What amazing work, those nuts must be tricky to carve! I’m definitely going to come watch her work and buy some for holiday gifts for all my little nieces and nephews! Thanks, Debbie, for sharing this with us so we don’t miss out.
wow thats talent! amazingly beautiful
Beautiful works of art – what a talent! I think Leonor will become very busy once our baby panda(s) arrive. I for one would love a unique keepsake such as this.
I hope I can get one shipped to Canada. Will have to look into the shipping info.
Debbie responds: Our shopzoo.com folks say that international orders cannot be placed online but they do take international orders by phone or e-mail. Just call 858-675-7998. They are very helpful people!
She is truly an amazing artist. We happened upon her at the Treehouse Trader shop, my family was so captivated we stayed while she finished a Mom and baby panda out of a NUT!. If you do visit the Zoo, don’t forget to see the other artisans, their work was equally impressive.
Debbie responds: I’m so pleased you got to see Leonor at work! And yes, we also have a gourd carver from Peru and a beaded art artisan from Mexico.
Wow, what beautiful work! Kudos to SDZ for offering such a great program.
They are very beautiful. She is a very clever lady.
This is just another reason why the San Diego Zoo is the nation’s (and maybe the world’s) best zoo — great gift shops!
How exciting about another panda pregnancy! Seeing a baby panda is an amazing experience, so wouldn’t it be great is she can carry these twins to term.
Allen Nyhuis, Coauthor: America’s Best Zoos
Can you tell us the approximate size of the pieces? Beautiful!
Sorry, I see the sizes now in the descriptions.
I love tagua carvings! I’m surprised her village didn’t know about the uses of tagua. If you research the history, tagua was very popular before plastic. Tagua was used to make all kinds of things including buttons. Plastic destroyed the tagua industry and began to become more popular in the last 10-ish years for making ornaments and various carvings.
i have recently purchased a pair of large black elephant ornaments in a sorry state.ie toe nails and tusks missisg etc,.Do you know where i can purchase some of the very largest of tagua nuts?
Moderator’s note: Tagua nuts are not very large. You may purchase tagua nut carvings from our online store, shopsandiegozoo.org.