Vintage Wounaan Indian Jaguar Cat Tagua Carving

The Tagua Story

Tagua (tägwə) is the seed of several types of palms that grow in tropical rain forests, also called ivory nut or vegetable ivory. From the Darien-Choco region of Panama, the indigenous Wounaan people carve the tagua with hand tools and polish with a series of fine abrasives. The natural color of tagua is ivory white with a dark brown skin while other colors are produced by dyeing the tagua with all natural dyes. Income earned from the sale of tagua reduces the need to destroy the rain forest for agriculture.