BAP BOTTONIFICIO
MOTHER OF PEARL
Bap started off by only making Mother Pear buttons in 1941. Mother Pearl buttons are also known as nacra. It is made out of oysters and shells from the ocean. Bap are always working toward sustainability and to have as low negative climate impact as possible. Therefore, they make sure to cut back waste in different innovated ways. For example, making new buttons by grinding any left over material they have from the Mother Pearl. This way, by reusing they are also reducing the waste.
This is a technic that has been used not only for Mother Pearl, but also with other materials within the company.
COROZO
In 1975 BAP Started to import Corozo to make corozo buttons. Corozo comes from the Tagua tree that grows in the lowland rainforests of Ecuador Peru, Colombia and Panama.
Each Tagua plant produces up to 15 fruit clusters that are called “mococha." Each mococha has approximately 30 seeds, which are called Corozo. The Corozo button is only ripe and ready to be used when it has fallen from the tree which is a huge sustainable benefit since no trees needs to be cut down. That way, less water need to be used. After they have been picked from the grown, a 2 months drying process are ahead. Once dried, it is sliced and processed into Corozo blanks or fully finished buttons.
The Tagua tree can provide us with Corozo nuts for hundreds of years. Material that are as strong and durable as the tusk of an elephant. Sadly, elephant poachers are still a huge problem in the world where they hunt innocent elephant to get on hold of tusks that only can be used and produced once.
But by only using vegetable buttons such as Corozo, we can prevent this poachers to keep harming the elephants.
