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[REppsoman]

Although rubberwear is in the middle of a media thomas sabo pendants sale uk renaissance, its journey from Brazilian rainforests to secretive dungeons and now centre stage has been 200 years in the making. Though natural rubber latex has come to be associated with futurism and technology, its origins are ancient and organic. Latex is a milky fluid that oozes from over 20,000 plant species after tissue injury. The sap-like substance, which coagulates swarovski crystal sale uk and hardens to form an elastic and waterproof mass, is tapped by making careful incisions with small blades. The New York-based latex designer known as The Baroness tells BBC Designed: “People often mistake latex for PVC, and think of it as shiny, tight, sexy and cheap. But natural rubber latex is completely vegan, sustainable, fragile and difficult to work with”. Use of natural rubber dates back to vivienne westwood earrings sale uk Mesoamerica in 1600 BC, in the Maya, Aztec and Olmec cultures (Olmec is an Aztec word, meaning “rubber people”). South America remained the main source of latex until 1876, when Henry Wickham, in an act of botanical piracy, smuggled 70,000 Amazonian rubber tree seeds out of Brazil and into England. These seedlings eventually made their way to more compatible climates in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia, vivienne westwood necklace sale uk countries that today rank among the largest producers of natural rubber. During the industrial revolution, latex became a hugely valuable colonial resource. To tap these vast reserves, horrifically violent techniques were imposed on forced labourers in the Brazilian Amazon and King Leopold’s Congo, where failure to meet impossible quotas was punished with mutilation and sometimes death.
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Roman A. Epps