Hot Lava (a.k.a "How Bowers") plays baritone ukulele and sings with America's best tiki music band, The Crazed Mugs. He lives in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife and son. Contact
You are currently browsing the archives for the Carvers category.
I’m fascinated by this item from Royal Tiki, called a “storyboard.”
The company has a whole series depicting the life of King Kamehameha — I like this more decorative one depicting a canoe, a whale surging out of the water and what I assume are ancient symbols. It would look very cool hanging up in a home bar.
36 inches x 12 inches x 1 inch thick.
$129.00
See it at Royal Tiki | Thanks, James!
Artist and tiki-carver Greg Fairclough’s blog is charting the progress of each of his Maori-styled pieces — it’s fascinating to watch how a chunk of wood slowly transforms into a fully-realized piece.
California artist Bosko is one of the granddaddys of the new generation of tiki artists, having been active since the mid-1990s. In less than 10 years, Bosko has become the “go to” guy for tiki decor.
His shields and masks, reminiscent of the products created by mid-century company Witco, have led to numerous full-scale decorating jobs, including the Taboo Cove bar in Las Vegas.
Through his website, Bosko sells his shields, carved tikis, one-of-a-kind tiki mugs, and everything else needed to throw a luau or turn a room into a home Polynesian bar.
The New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute at Te Puia, an educational facility and tourist attraction in Roturoa, New Zealand, has been teaching the ancient art of Maori carving since 1967.
Twelve full time students study for three years at the school, under the guidance of past graduates, including master carver Clive Fugil, who attended the school’s opening session. Visitors to Te Puia can tour the school and talk to the carvers.
The students’ work is also often available for sale.
Thaibamboo creates and sells beautifully-carved bamboo and hardwood tiki vases, lights, sings and posts in Thailand. Pictured here is one of their custom lights — made from hollowed bamboo, it’s base is carved with a tiki and the top is wired for an incandescent bulb. Their half-round tiki vases look particularly nice too.
Thaibamboo’s downloadable catalog shows many more (and better, in my opinion) designs than the website.
Paul Gephart makes fantastic handcrafted reproductions of ancient Hawaiian weapons out of wood, shark’s teeth, swordfish bills, and stone. These are the real deal – scary as hell looking and incredibly dangerous (you must be 21 in order to purchase), but also beautiful in their construction and finish.
Paul came to Hawaii in 1969 after fighting in Vietnam. He married a local girl, had five kids, and 37-years later they are still going strong! The couple have a shop on the big island, north of Hilo, but also sell their handmade wares online, which also include jewelry, bowls, and kitchen utensils.
Sadly, the Hale Tiki bar in Augusta, Georgia closed in 2005. The place was wonderful recreation of tiki bars past, with fabrication done by the top names in the tiki construction scene (including Bamboo Ben, Al Evans, Basement Kahuna, and Swanky).
Now, the owner is selling off what’s left of the decorations to help recoup the costs. There are many pieces of tribal art from Papua New Guinea, glass floats, tiki poles, and even some of the bar’s original stock of custom Tiki Farm mugs, all at reasonable prices. I ended up buying a mug.
Link to sale website | Link to photos of the bar under construction | Thanks Swanky!
