Tapara Vessels by Artist Yaritza Molina

In Venezuela, this fruit is known as "Tapara". It is ever present in the domestic life of the Venezuelan “Llanos” (flatlands). Although Taparas look like a gourd it is technically a fruit. It has many diverse uses. Once they are empty and dry they can serve as containers, rustic dinnerware, musical instruments, or other handicrafts. The pulp and foliage have medicinal properties and is used as livestock feed.
The Process:
Once the fruit is selected, it is opened with a drill and serrated bit. With different tools the pulp is extracted by hand, then the shell is sanded and let to dry. Lines for guidance are then drawn on the hard shell, with a graphite pencil. On top of these lines, other marks are made for holes used for the embroidery. The shell is perforated with a hand drill using the drawing as a guide.
The shell is then submerged in dye and air dried at room temperature. A mixture of white glue and grey is made to add to the bottom to add weight and to make a flat plane, which is covered by a layer of cork. Finally it is polished and embroidered with moriche, in its natural color, or dyed.
"Today Yaritza is a true artist of the tapara. Her pieces stand out because to their masterful simplicity. Adding local natural fibers into her designs, she makes a connection between ancestral memory and minimalistic design. Their colors and textures take us to our botanical origins and reconcile ancestry with modernism." Luis Enrique Belmonte
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This video was produced by World Turtle Productions, LLC with music by Emmy Award winning composer Tom Phillips.