Thuya wood

What it is

Thuya wood comes from the sandarac tree (Tetraclinis articulata), a conifer of the cypress family native to north-west Africa.¹ In Essaouira the wood is worked above all into inlay work (marquetry) and furniture.² It is very dense, and the gnarled parts of the tree are the most highly prized.³ The Maison de l’Artisan calls the craftsmen of Essaouira consummate masters of marquetry and counts cedar, walnut and fragrant thuya among the country’s most prized woods.⁴

Where it comes from

In Morocco the tree covers around 545,450 hectares and is one of the country’s most important forest trees; it grows from sea level up to about 1,100 metres, in the south up to 1,600 metres, among other places in the east, on the Central Plateau, in the western High Atlas and in the argan tree area.⁵ Several towns are known for working the wood, Essaouira above all.⁶

History

Until the 1950s the craftsmen of Essaouira felled their trees themselves; then a Frenchman set up a cooperative.⁷ Besides wood, the tree provides the population with sandarac resin, tannins and vegetable tar.⁸

What it is made of

Most pieces have inlays of ebony, walnut and citrus wood, as well as mother-of-pearl, threads of silver, copper or aluminium and slivers of camel bone.⁹ The patterns are mainly geometric; at most trees, tendrils and flowers are depicted.¹⁰

How it is made

The workshops are in the Skala de la Ville, the souk of the woodworkers, in narrow rooms under the city walls where ammunition used to be stored.¹¹ For an inlay, a recess is gouged out, the piece of a different colour set in with glue and knocked flush with a mallet; the craftsmen often make their own chisels and gouges, and their apprenticeship begins at about fifteen.¹²

The shine comes from methylated spirit and gum arabic; linseed oil nourishes the wood and prevents cracks.¹³ The large quantities of sawdust are mostly burnt as fuel for the hammams; an essential oil can be obtained from the shavings of the trunk, with a yield of 1.63 per cent.¹⁴

How to recognise it

The labelling strategy of the Ministry of Handicrafts provides for a collective mark for thuya wood, and a separate “Thuya d’Essaouira” mark was in preparation; in addition, the Technical Centre for the Wood and Furniture Industry has set quality criteria for thuya wood products.¹⁵