MANTA, ECUADOR – BUTTON FACTORY (2 of 6)

The nut of the Tagua Palm is known as the Vegetable Ivory. In the 60’s and 70’s buttons made from the nut of the Tagua Palms were big business! Factories processed millions of the ivory look buttons and shipped them all over the World. In the late 70’s, plastic buttons took over the market and most of the factories closed and equipment was junked or put in storage. Now, with the renewed interest in returning to natural products, some of the factories are beginning limited production.

To say we visited a Button Factory is a misnomer, even though that’s what the Excursion brochure called it. It was three “artisans” each demonstrating a step in the button making process, but it was still very interesting.

The nuts come from a rough ball shaped pod. They come from a female Tagua Palm. The pods are fertilized as bees move from male trees (guess the bees know the difference in male and female palms). In a true factory setting the nuts are dried in gas/propane dryers. In the small-scale operation we visited, the nuts are spread-out on the ground to dry. The nuts are very strong; our tour bus drove over them without any damage to nuts or tires. On warm, sunny days, the nuts will dry in approximately a week.

A table saw, with no guard, was used to cut the nuts into slices the proper depth for the button. The cut brown nut revealed its ivory-look, hard center. An open faces router bit was used to cut out the button shape. The shape and size of the cutting tool determined the button shape. In the demonstration the buttonholes were drilled individually. In a true factory setting, all these processes would be automated, and hundreds of buttons would be completed on an assembly line.

Of course, every excursion stop has a shopping opportunity. Now, the artisans produce jewelry, miniature animals and other small art pieces from the nuts for the tourist trade. John bought a personalized keyring for $2. It took about one minute for the man to carve John’s name into the surface of the nut; all freehand, with a Dremel tool.