Nutty Over the Tagua Nut

Filed in archive Rings on February 3, 2010

If you read this blog, you know my taste, but if you know me, I'm anything but predictable. I have very high-brow/low-brow taste in art, movies, books and jewelry. Case in point: the Tagua Nut ring. Definitely low-brow and 100% me.

I was shopping in La Jolla, and chanced into a Fair Trade boutique that had these crazy rings made from Tagua Nuts the size of an egg. Grown in the South American rainforest, the nuts fall from a tree and then are dried until they're rock hard. Some people call them "vegetable ivory", so hard is the final result. They can be carved into beads or rings that are often dyed striking colors.

Because each nut is unique, each ring is completely different. And they are really, really cool. They're big and chunky and fun - and buying them benefits the local people who carve the rings.

And did I mention they're cheap? Yes - there's that too! So keep an eye out at your local boutique, or just go online here or here or here to grab one!