If you wish to purchase any of these mango wood vases and bowls or any other item from this site please contact us first by phone on Nottingham 0115 9382394 or e-mail info@rootsemporium.co.uk to confirm the item is still in stock and for details of post and packaging if not shown.
These mango wood vases, bowls, trays and t-lights can be seen and purchased directly from our Nottinghamshire shop. Here you will aslo find a larger range of other more rustic vases and bowls as well as many ethnic style gifts. Visit us at
Roots
17,NOTTINGHAM ROAD KIMBERLEY NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG16 2NB TEL: 0115 9382394
We are five minutes from junction 26 of the M1 and Ikea, within easy reach of the cities of Derby, Leicester, Sheffield and Stoke on Trent. Please see home page for map. ROOTS EMPORIUM HOMEPAGE.
Hand carved and turned Mango wood vases, bowls and other decorative items.
The mango wood vases and mango wood bowls, the mango wood trays and mango wood t-lights shown on this page are hand crafted in Northern Thailand. Hand turned on a lathe by skilled craftsmen each vase and bowl is a testimony to the skill of the labourer and the beauty of the mango wood itself. The wood is first dried in a kiln before skilled craftsmen turn the wood into beautiful vases and bowls. Next the mango wood vases and bowls may be coloured by dyeing or marbling or left au natural according to taste. The marbling gives the mango wood vases and bowls a particularly fetching effect not unlike the appearance of walnut. Then the mango wood vases and bowls are given a lacquer varnish to create the highly polished finish. The results are beautiful vases and bowls as well as t-lights and trays and other decorative items samples of which can be seen here in Roots Emporiums mango wood gallery.
Being hand turned and finished each mango wood vase and bowl is slightly different, in particular the variations in patterning on the marbled mango wood pieces make each wooden vase, bowl and t-light unique. If you wish to order any of our mango wood products, be it a vase or a bowl please bare in mind the mango wood item you receive will be likely to vary slightly from the mango wood item pictured. This is particularly so with the marbled mango wood pieces. Please also note that the mango wood vases and bowls are decorative items and not suitable for holding water or other liquids.
The revitalisation of mango wood turning and carving in Thailand.
Recent years have seen an increase in the use of mango wood for turned and carved decorative items such as vases, bowls, trays and t-light holders partly due to the restrictions on the use of teak. In order to protect the slow growing teak forests the harvesting of teak has been heavily curtailed. The many beautiful teak carvings you will find on Roots Emporiums web site are almost all carved from reclaimed teak and a special license is required to export any quantity of teak carvings from the country. While this has been vitally important in protecting the internationally important teak forest habitats it has created a need for a suitable alternative for the wood craftsmen’s and women of Thailand to work with. The wood of the mango tree has been seized upon as an ideal substitute by the wood working communities of Northern Thailand for the production of many decorative items from bowls and vases to trays, t-light holders and candle sticks.
Apart from the fact that that mango wood is a beautiful wood for making vase and bowls and other decorative items it is also significant that the mango tree is a quick growing tree and a more easily renewable resource than the teak tree. It is also the case that the mango tree is grown first and foremost as a fruit tree and that the mango produces its best fruit up to the age of about 25 years. After that age the mango tree is no longer considered as suitable for the commercial production of mango fruit and is cut down and replaced. This provides a supply of wood that can then be used by village craftsmen and women to work into beautiful mango wood items such as vases and bowls e.t.c.
Random facts and information about the mango tree.
The mango tree is an evergreen tree belonging to the Sumac family of trees.
A medium to large sized the tree the mango is capable of reaching heights of up to 65 feet with a 3 foot diameter trunk. However in commercial mango fruit growing the trees are replaced before they reach such a height since younger mango trees produce the best mango fruit.
Mango wood is a hard wood but a relatively soft one compared to teak.
It is believed the mango tree originated from India, hence its Latin or scientific name Mangifea Indicia. From India the mango tree has travelled widely and is now cultivated across south east Asia, Australia and the south pacific islands.
The mango fruit is the most popular fruit in the world. In India where the mango is grown in groves as well as singularly in open fields there are over one thousand varieties of mango tree cultivated.
The leaves from the mango tree are important in India where they are uses in religious ceremonies.
In Australia the most popular variety of mango tree grown for fruit is the Kensington pride variety also known as the Bowen. The Bowen mango tree can bear fruit within three years and unlike some other varieties of mango will grow from seed. Many other types of cultivated mango trees will only grow from grafts.
Left unprunned a mango tree will develop a heavily foliated dome shaped canopy. This however increases humidity around the tree and is liable to result in fungi and bacteria that will affect the mango fruit. For this reason it is best to prune mango trees so that they develop an “open dish” shaped canopy.
As well as providing wood for hand turned vases and bowls mango wood is also used in Hawaii to make ukuleles. Mango wood trees are susceptible to fungi in the sapwood that results in a very attractive black colouring in the woods grain pattern. It is also fairly common for the grain of mango wood to be curly in nature.
Mango trees are fully self-pollinating, an effective means of reproduction but not necessarily the most enjoyable. Mango wood vases and bowls however are not self-pollinating not even in Rotherham.
