Nares Pine Resin Factory Visit

Where does pine resin come from, and what steps does the raw material that's harvested from trees need to go through in order to be used in my practice? 

On a recent trip to Portugal I was very fortunate to visit Nares, a family run pine resin processing facility in Coimbra, Portugal, as well as a neighbouring forest.
I've read about the processing steps online, but this was a unique opportunity to see those questions answered in real-life. With Nares giving me a full tour of their facility which processes around 3,000 tonnes a year!

So this is how sticky tree excretions, as I once labelled pine resin, are transformed into the lamps, vessels and handles I craft in my studio!

Firstly, the pine resin - which is harvested by artisans across Portugal, as well as neighbouring Spain deliver the raw pine resin - known as 'crude' - in large steel drums, which are loaded by hand into an even bigger under-floor vat. 
I specifically work with these regions, as they are some of the closest to the UK that still have an active industry. 

This crude resin is then pumped through a series of pipes into a heated, two stage filtration machine, which removes large and then small impurities, such as bark and debris. From here it spends eight hours in a decanting chamber - to remove the water, before a distillation machine separates the pine rosin and turpentine (pine resin is approximately 10-15% water and impurities such as bark and 85-80% rosin and turpentine).

The turpentine is transferred into storage tanks, but in order to make the shards I use in my practice the separated rosin is poured onto a water-cooled rotating conveyor, which solidifies the material, in so doing breaking it up into small pieces. 

The simplicity of this description is a real testament to how few steps there are. This isn't a hyper processed material, modified to have certain properties at the expense of being able to reintegrate back into the natural world, it's

simple, natural and transparent. 
The whole processing facility fits into a couple of moderately sized rooms, and Nares are constantly working to minimise waste and discover innovative new uses for the small amount that is produced. 

To learn more about Nares please visit www.nares.pt