By: Raphi Gold One late afternoon in July, I found myself intensely focused, clutching strands of cogollo and binding them together in a spiral with colorful thread. Background noise and other thoughts faded out as I drew the thread up and over, down and through, around and up again. Up, over, down, through, around, up, twist, repeat. And repeat again. As a summer intern at Pro Eco Azuero, my fellow interns and I had been given the opportunity to meet with the Eco-Artisans of Paritilla to learn about their artistic use of natural materials. Toward the end of our visit, we received brief training in hat-braiding and basket-weaving using natural plant fibers, and the latter was what held my focus so deeply.
When we first entered the brightly painted pink shop, we were greeted by five artisans: Santa, Dana, Carmencita, Teresa, and Maestra Delia. We first stopped to take in the display of mannequins donning embroidered shirts, and the array of woven baskets, hats, and bowls made from dried calabazo fruit – all of it handmade. The crafts had been laid out on a long table for us to explore the intricate designs, but I was immediately drawn to a modest spool of creamy white thread wrapped around a stick. “Is this it?” I asked, “Is this the kapok?” It was. Out of all the items, this unassuming thread, made from the Kapok tree, was what I had been most eager to see.
Image caption: Crafts hand-made by the Paritilla Eco-Artisans
Image credit: Frida Ruiz, Pro Eco Azuero Intern
Found in the Neotropics, this tree goes by many names. Some know it as Kapok. Its Latin name is Ceiba Pentandra. And around Panamá, many, like the eco-artisans I met with, call it Bongo. These many names befit the tree’s multifaceted nature, reflecting its folkloric, ecological, medical and artistic significance.
In Mayan folklore, the majestic Ceiba sits at the center of the universe, a sacred pathway of communication between the three levels of the world. In this cosmology, the roots of the tree extend to the underworld, the trunk represents the middle world inhabited by humans, and the canopy symbolizes the upper world, or heaven. In Mayan mythology, the souls of the dead climb up the Ceiba to reach heaven.
The Ceiba is certainly one of the rainforest’s giants, reaching up to 70 meters (200 feet) in height and towering over other vegetation. Its wide crown stretches enormous branches toward the sky, spreading as wide as 40 meters (131 feet). Saplings can appear menacing, with thorn-studded trunks that can expand to be up to three meters (10 feet) in diameter. Later in life, the trees host a biodiverse array of frogs, birds, and bromeliad species. Meanwhile, flying mammals facilitate pollination by traveling between the tree’s white and pink flowers, transferring pollen on their fur.
Human beings have also discovered many uses for the tree. In some places, the sturdy trunks are used to make traditional dugout canoes. The plant’s seeds, leaves, bark, and resin all have medicinal properties and have been historically used to treat dysentery, fever, asthma, and kidney disease. And the white, fluffy covering of the Ceiba’s seeds is buoyant and water resistant, and thus often used in flotation devices and padding. But this white fluff has another use. That’s where the organization Conceiba Peru and Azuero’s Eco-Artisans enter the Ceiba story.
Jonathan Sanchez Gonzalez holding the Ceiba fruit and its cotton.
Image credit: Jonathan Sanchez Gonzalez
I spoke with Jonathan Sanchez Gonzales, CEO and founder of Conceiba, an organization that sustainably uses Ceiba fiber to manufacture textile items and generate income in communities in Peru. The idea was sparked by a research project. Jonathan was working on a thesis about the technological and economic features of Ceiba, and he and his team saw the tree’s potential, “not only in its material, but also in how it impacts the community,” said Jonathan. Soon, the idea blossomed into a full-fledged organization with the aim of conserving dry Ceiba forests, maintaining the trees traditional uses, and innovating new, sustainable uses of the tree. The organization has flourished, conducting more research, building trails to people to explore the trees, and collaborating with artisans, who often make mattresses and pillows using the seed fiber as stuffing.
Jonathan was particularly excited to share about the organization’s newest design, a sneaker sewn almost entirely from the Ceiba fiber and dyed purple. In order to foster sustainability, Conceiba works to use all parts of the tree, including sub-products like oils, in order to reduce waste. Jonathan also noted the impact of sustainable production on local artisans. He explained, “People are able to make a living from this. They’re able to learn about the tree and many of these avenues can be replicated throughout many regions.”
Indeed, Ceiba artisanship is spreading to Panama through Pro Eco’s eco-artisan program. The program began in 2018, when Pro Eco won the Lex Artisan grant through National Geographic and began finding traditional artisans who wished to work with more sustainable materials. Many of the artisans in Paritilla also produce saplings for Pro Eco, which often include Ceiba plants. Pro Eco’s artisans have received workshops on a variety of topics, including product display and business management to help the artisans market their goods. The majority of the artisans are women for whom art is their only source of income, so these trainings equip them to sell their goods at festivals and in larger towns and cities.
Jonathan Sanchez Gonzalez teaches women to spool the Ceiba thread
Image Credit: Jonathan Sanchez Gonzalez
In 2023, Jonathan visited the Eco-Artisans to deliver a Ceiba training, teaching the artists to use the fiber as stuffing or to spool it into thread for sewing or embroidery. “It was less of a training, in my experience, more like an interchange of ideas. I learned something, and they learned something,” Jonathan explained. Jonathan was fascinated by the Panamanian textiles and admired the work ethic of the women. He also enjoyed teaching the women about ceiba and its various uses.
The Paritilla artisans told me that they find the fiber is very difficult to work with as a thread. They explained that making pillows or stuffed animals using the plant cotton is easier than sewing or embroidery. For one of Pro Eco’s galas, the artisans crafted monkey, toucans, and frog plushies, which they then painted with natural dyes and adorned with eyes made from seeds. Still, the women have continued to practice working with Ceiba thread every day since Jonathan’s visit, and they proudly displayed the unbelievably soft yarn alongside their other products.
Conceiba Team, trainning the Azuero Eco Artisans
Photo Credit: Pro Eco Azuero
In addition to Ceiba, the Paritilla artisans use many other natural materials. For example, Santa, who specializes in hat-making, explained how she uses a plant called Junco to form braids for the hat. Junco is found only in creeks, and is becoming increasingly sparse due to pesticide contamination. Often, just two plants out of a whole colony will be suitable for a hat, typically the female plant because it is less tough after it dries out, and thus easier to thread. Santa explained, “the thinner the thread, the more expensive the hat.”
The artisans also make bags called “Chacáras”, typically used by field workers to collect their harvests. Before collaborating with Pro Eco, the artisans used unnatural thread for their bags, but now, they have begun using Abuja/Pija, a plant which resembles a large aloe and can be spooled into a long thread. They have also learned how to make natural dyes, craft bowls from calabazo, and weave baskets using natural Cogollo fibers. Today, there are very few people engaged in using traditional, natural fibers for crafts, and the resources used to make them are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Santa’s advice for other aspiring artisans who wish to work with sustainable materials was to get involved with Pro Eco. “Join the program so you can learn,” she said.
Pro Eco Azuero is engaged in ongoing efforts to secure grants aimed at enhancing the competencies of Azuero’s Eco Artisans. These grants will enable the artisans to learn new techniques and utilize natural fibers more often, making these crafts more sustainable. Additionally, these efforts will help expand the program to reach more rural communities in Azuero and will particularly foster resilience among and help create business opportunities for rural women.
The Paritilla artisans are excited to teach other artisans and the next generation to carry on their work in a sustainable way. I feel very grateful that I got to learn from them, and wish that I could have had weeks to dedicate myself to the art of natural basket weaving. For now, the small necklace I ended up producing will have to suffice. When I wear it in the future, it will always remind me of Paritilla’s Eco-Artisans and their dedication to artistry, self-sufficiency, and sustainability. And, of course, it will always remind me of Ceiba.
The necklace I made from cogollo and thread after being trained by the Paritilla artisans.
Image Credit: Raphi Gold Sources:
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/species/kapok-tree/
https://panamabiota.org/stri/taxa/index.php?taxon=62876&clid=64
https://medium.com/@feliciamlittle/the-mystical-kapok-9129ebd60f41#:~:text=In%20Mayan%20mythology%2C%20the%20kapok,the%20upper%20world%20and%20heaven.
Comments