Lecture 16. Construction and crafts materials

Summary

Timber, vines, bark and other durable materials are used around the world for building houses, making canoes and many other forms of construction. Crafts – from baskets to woven fabrics – form part of peoples’ material culture, the traditions, transmitted over generations, of manufacturing objects (often made from plants). Both construction and crafts materials are harvested from a wide range of botanical families, but there are some similarities regionally in families and genera of preferred species. As many of the harvested species come from wild sources, sustainability of construction and crafts materials is a major issue.

The species used in crafts and construction owe their utility to cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignins which are the basic structural materials of plants. To quote Kew Information Sheet C1: "the structure of each plant is maintained by the cell walls …The wall is rather like reinforced concrete, with a mesh of cellulose fibrils, acting as the strengthening rods, surrounded by a mixture of strengthening and binding substances to provide rigidity." The physical properties – such as tensile strength (resistance to stretching when pulled), flexibility and resistance to rotting – are key to understanding preferences for specific craft and construction materials.

Focus on cork:

The origin of the use of cork as stoppers for wine bottles is said to have originated with Dom Perignon in the 17th century, replacing hemp soaked in olive oil. Today, plastic corks are taking away part of the market for cork stoppers, as the price and quality are not equal. Demands for both types of stoppers remains high, as world production will be 14 billion bottles of wine in 1999, an increase of 50 percent over five years. Cork sometimes contains a chemical contaminant called TCA, which turns wine musty and undrinkable, ruining about one bottle in twelve. Some cork producers manage over one million cork oak trees in large, multipurpose woodlands (for example in montados in the Alentejo region of Portugal, or in Andalucia in southern Spain). It takes 40 years for a cork oak tree to produce cork, and attempts to produce marketable quality cork outside of the Mediterranean region (e.g. in regions of Mediterranean climate such as South Africa, California and Chile) have failed. Production in the Mediterranean region is considered sustainable, though there is some debate on this issue.

Focus on rattans:

Unlike cork (from a single species), there are many species that provide rattan: over 600 species in 13 genera. The trade in rattan is estimated at over £3 billion every year, and production is often on a community and small-holder basis. Plant habit is a major feature in sustainability: some species are solitary (i.e. single stemmed) – thus vulnerable to overharvesting, while others are clustering (i.e. multiple stemmed), thus potentially sustainable. Apart from substitutability within rattans (i.e. Korthalsia for Calamus), they can be replaced by bamboo other plant materials in basket, furniture and mat-making. True rattans are restricted to the Old World tropics and subtropics, and are especially abundant in Southeast Asia and the Malay Archipelago; there are some climbing palms (Chamaedorea and Desmoncus) used in crafts in the New World. Both intensive harvesting and habitat destruction have created threats to commercially valuable species of rattan. Rattans have an important role in community development (through local industries) and maintenance of forest cover (as they depend on trees for support). Small-holder production is considered more promising than large-scale plantations.

Questions for discussion:

• To what extent can some plant materials be substituted for others in the production of crafts and construction?
• What impact does this potential substitutability have on sustainability of highly valued species and the continuity of material culture?

Examples:

• Fagaceae, a family of only 8 genera and over 1000 species, contains many dominants in some temperate broad-leaved forests, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; and also in tropical regions. They are deciduous or evergreen trees (rarely shrubs), with alternate that are simple and entire to pinnately lobed, with deciduous stipules. The flowers are unisexual and usually arranged in catkins or small spikes. The fruits are single-seeded nuts, presented in groups of one to three, surrounded by an often hardened cupule. The main economic uses are for hardwood timber; minor uses include edible fruits and as ornamentals. The Fagaceae is the source of some of the most important timbers in the world, most notably the many species of Quercus, which provides an excellent hardwood used extensively in furniture and cabinet making. Quercus suber, a Mediterranean species, is the source of cork, used to make wine bottle corks and for insulation.

• The Lauraceae, a family of some with 50 genera and 2500 species, is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions. Characteristic of tropical wet forests, it is particularly diverse in Southeast Asia and northern South America. It is a source of many tropical timbers, from genera such as Beilschmedia, Ocotea and Litsea. The family is also known as a source of aromatic and spice plants, including bay leaves (Laurus nobilis), cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), camphor (Cinnamomum camphora), and sassafras (Sassafras albidum).

• The Arecaceae is a large family of over 200 genera and some 2780 species. It is primarily tropical, with some subtropical and a few temperate species; and occurs in a wide range of habitats. The morphology of palms is complex and highly diverse: habit ranges from tree-like forms with a terminal tuft of feather-like leaves, to spiny vines (rattans). The palms provide many important economic products, including coconuts, copra, dates, sago, palm oil, fibers; some are grown as ornamentals. The genus Calamus includes several commercially valuable species that provide the rattan canes used in furniture and basket making. Raffia fiber, used in basketry, is from Raphia farinifera, a species of tropical Africa and Madagascar.

• Others families yielding crafts and construction materials include the Pandanaceae (which provide fibre for many crafts, especially in the South Pacific) and the Malvaceae.

References:

Bonnemaison, J. K. Huffman, C. Kaufmann and D. Tryon. 1996. Arts of Vanuatu. Bathurst, Crawford House Publishing.

Cole, S. and V. Kulatea. 1996. Cultural Crafts of Nue: Pandanus Weaving. Suva, Institute of Pacific Studies.

Etienne-Nugue, J. 1984. Traditional Handicrafts in Black Africa: Bénin. Dakar, Institut Culturel Africain.

Felger, R.S. and M.B. Moser. 1991. People of the Desert and the Sea: Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Tucson, The University of Arizona Press. Chapters 9 – 15.

Milliken, W. and B. Albert. 1997. The construction of a new Yanomami round-house. Journal of Ethnobiology 17:215-233.

Taylor, P.M. and L.V. Aragon. 1991. Beyond the Java Sea: Art of Indonesia’s Outer Islands. Washington, Smithsonian Institution.

Perspective for discussion:

On methodology for documenting vernacular architecture:

"[W]e found that even though almost two years had lapsed since termination of the construction of the new roundhouse, many of its inhabitants were able to identify without difficulty the types of trees from which each of the components of the house had been made. A comprehensive inventory of those tree species was carried out, and notes were made on the construction techniques and details… Detailed drawings and photographs were made of the construction details of the yano. Each of the categories of components was numbered, and their Yanomami names were recorded. A systematic quantitative survey of the names of the plants used to make each of these components was then conducted, category by category. From these data, a single list was composed of the Yanomami names for all of the plants employed in the construction of the yano. These plants were then collected in the surrounding forest (with Antonio Yanomami), and their names and uses were double-checked by consensus with at least one other resident in the village." From Milliken, W. and B. Albert, 1997. The construction of a new Yanomami round-house. Pages 216, 218.

On similarity and substitutability of Amazonian vernacular construction materials:

"There are very clear similarities in the choice and use of building materials at Watorikï with those of other Amazonian tribes, resulting from the extensive knowledge of the strength and durability of plant materials which these peoples evidently possess, and the similarity of their circumstances, resources, and technological capabilities. These similarities in species choice are particularly evident in the more specialized components such as thatching and lashing materials. The notably large number of species used in the construction of the Watorikï round-house (52 or more) may to some extent be a consequence of its very considerable size and the limited local availability of the most suitable (ideal) species. This is clearly evident in the case of the choice of wood for rafters. However, this is also a reflection of the outstanding breadth and diversity of knowledge which the Yanomami possess as regards the useful properties of the plants in their environment." From Milliken, W. and B. Albert, 1997. The construction of a new Yanomami round-house. Page 231.

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