Creators

McCloud comes from a fine art background - specifically, the art of letterpress. Inspired by his uncle Roger Frith, who was once a historian with the Tennessee State Museum and focused on Nashville's printing history, McCloud got into letterpress early in his career. His Isle of Printing studio sits in an area he helped dub Pie Town - a pie-shaped sliver of land bordered by Lafayette Avenue, 8th Avenue, and the interstate. Bryce is a co-founder of Chopper bar, along with co-founder Mike Wolf, and co-founder Andy Mumma. Bryce is considered an artist-in-residence of sorts and it was he that suggested the robot influence on the bar.

Kevin is an artist based out of Simi Valley, CA.

Matt Stikker is an illustrator/graphic designer and musician who resides in Portland, Oregon. His work is grounded in the music and culture of heavy metal, horror movies, comics, fantasy, science fiction and the occult. He counts ink luminaries Bernie Wrightson, Jack Davis, R. Crumb, and Jack Kirby among his foremost influences. Primarily an illustrator, Matt's customary medium is pen and ink, although he also works in acrylic and digital painting. He is also a guitarist and vocalist/lyricist for Portland-based bands Drouth and Iron Scepter.

Tiki Nava is a designer and often collaborator with Lost Temple Traders on their mug designs.

This company is owned and operated by Ken Holewczynski. Ken is an accomplished artist and graphic designer based in South Bend, Indiana. He is also the owner of Exotica Moderne magazine.

Founded in 2020, Taboo Relics is the brand of Franky Edwin Kokosza, an artist/ceramicist based out of Orlando, Florida.

Coxswain Dunsel was created out of a passion for tiki, ceramics and mid-century design. The goal has always been to produce small-batch ceramic drinking vessels that are highly intricate. The artist, Corey DeWitt, creates a handful of unique designs each year and produces limited runs at his studio in Houston, Texas.

Coxswain Dunsel affectionately means 'Captain of Nothing' and it stands for the spirit Corey brings to his art. There is never an effort to produce an exact theme or style throughout each piece, but to bring together anything and everything that is inspiring and incorporate it into the love of Tiki.

Matthew is a sculptor for Sideshow Collectibles. He does design work for MONDO as well.

The story of the American swizzle stick is a stirring tale best told over a three-olive martini, or at least Jay Sindler might say so. After all, that’s how the idea for the swizzle stick came to him. It was the winter of 1934, just months after the end of prohibition.  The Boston native, who was a keen inventor and an employee of Malden’s Converse Rubber Company, was enjoying a martini with a friend at The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Boston. All was going swimmingly until he found himself in a conundrum. In order to retrieve the martini’s olive, he would either need to fumble with soaked fingers to pluck it from the bottom of his glass, or wait until his drink was empty. In that moment, Sindler, a natural visionary, imagined a simple tool that would go on to forever change the face of cocktailing: a pick uniquely designed to stab the olive with refinement. Within six months, Sindler had applied for a patent, founded Spir-it Inc. (today Spirit Foodservice of Andover; the “Spir-it” brand name is still used to market the company’s swizzle sticks and picks), and placed an ad in The New Yorker, offering to personalize picks with the names of customers’ establishments. The garnish pick would, of course, act as a drink stirrer as well, giving rise to the American swizzle stick. In early 1967, sales were helped along with an order from a small, but rapidly growing, chain restaurant called McDonald’s. Spir-it started to produce plastic utensils and coffee stirrers. Sales for the Spir-it Company sailed past the one million dollar mark in 1968. 

This company, with initials taken from the first names of the couple that ran it, was founded in 1940 and closed in 1980. Harold “Ziggy” Zane passed away on September 25, 2019 in his home in Mililani. In addition to his full-time job, he was also the head “slip maker and mold pourer” for his wife's, Beverly’s, ceramic business.

Tahiti Gil is a tattoo artist based out of San Diego, CA. His store, at Tahiti Gil's South Sea's Trading Co., makes Disney fan art, enamel pins, original art, limited edition prints, tiki mugs, Tattoo/Pinup art, and other curios.

Brownlee (1929-2013) was an accomplished tiki carver and architectural sculptor. His suggestion to Honolulu architect Alfred Preis that 1 percent of public construction be set aside for artwork led to the creation of the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts which then commissioned work from several artists including himself. His tiki carvings were used at Canlis' Charcoal Broiler, The Waikikian, The Tahitian Lanai, The International Marketplace and the Aku Aku in Las Vegas. His story is documented in the book, Waikiki Tiki, by Phillip S. Roberts. Additionally, Brownlee and his wife were commissioned by Laurance Rockefeller to collect artifacts and artwork from Japan and South Asia for his Pacifica Collection. Brownlee's own work is also included in numerous private collections, such as the Honolulu Museum of Art and the Hawaii State Capitol Collection.

This is a newly organized team for 2020, working with Patrick Vassar and Lost Temple Trading on their beginning projects - sculpting and manufacturing.

Trevor Foster (b. 1990) is a Seattle born artist. His portfolio spans various mediums including ceramics, bronze, painting and printmaking. Following upon a kickstarter project to make memento mori skull cups, Trevor released a branded version of this skull mug design for Strong Water Anaheim in signature glaze colors.

Trader Nic's debuted in 2020 with the release of his Tiki Drummer mug.

Starr Creations is a custom fiberglass fabrications company in Central Florida specializing in designing and creating one-of-a-kind monster trucks, cars and trucks. They have made creations for Toymakerz, Feld Entertainment, Diesel Brothers, Petty’s Garage, Tomfoolery Motorsports, Amelie Oil, Wolf’s Head Motor Oil, JConcepts and many others! In 2020, they branched out with a side company to make tiki mugs, called Starr Tiki Mug Makers. Their initial project was a three piece mug set that together forms Castle Grayskull from the He-Man cartoon universe.

Owner and ceramic artist, Kathy Tope has been making ceramic products for over a decade and knows her way around a kiln. She is assisted by her husband Patrick and their chatty parrot, Niles, who oversees quality control! Kathy's Etsy online storefront is Tickled Pink Pottery.

Just a couple of scalawags working on some original artisan tiki mugs and other flotsam & jetsam.

From Jim Moore's website:

"My name is Jim Moore and I am a lifelong Monster Fan. I began drawing and sculpting at a very young age, mostly inspired by comic books and monster movies on TV.

After having spent the past 15 years as an artist producing masks and sculpted accessories for a Halloween company, I am now attempting to produce and distribute my own work.

I am concentrating on ceramic slip-cast sculptures right now, but I am not opposed (and will likely return) to latex masks as well.

I am offering a line of monster-related products, as well as offering my services to custom projects which I am suited to.

Thank you for taking interest in my work and I hope to serve the Monster Community from here on out."

Magical Tiki Meet-Up is an unofficial gathering of tiki lovers at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Kari and Tom sponsor the event and also run an Etsy store selling merchandise to promote and celebrate the event.

Tiki Rancher (Frank Simotics) creates one of kind carvings from palm, cedar, and cherry woods. Inspired by traditional designs of Hawaii and Tahitian cultures, Simotics puts his own spin on the ancient pagan Idols. He is best known for his 6 month concept design and build out of Tiki Tango in Atlanta.

Jay makes limited run Tiki Mugs, resin toys, animatronics, and other cool Tiki stuff.

Founded in 1995, Ramirez Studios is an award winning Los Angeles based full service sculpture and prototyping studio. Services include traditional and digital sculpture, prototyping, and painting. Ramirez Studios has created outstanding pieces for many of the major toy brands including DC collectables, Jakks Pacific, Toybiz and Disney, to name a few. Phil has over twenty years experience working as a sculptor/ designer in the toy industry. He strives to create the highest quality work in a timely manner and is always looking to expand his companies ever growing list of clients. No job is too big or small.

Joe Allard began his career coloring comic books for Marvel Comics in the mid 90s and eventually followed his passion in to the toy industry. For the past 20 years Joe has been making his living as an independent designer and creator in the toy and collectible industry, working with clients such as Hasbro, Mattel, Disney, Sideshow Collectibles and many others. Joe has designed toys and collectibles for beloved pop culture brands such as Star Wars, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers and more. Statues designed by Joe have won IGN’s Best Collectible three years in a row from 2010-2012. Joe’s designs have been featured on the cover of Toy Fare magazine and in several other trade publications. He has sculpted designs for MONDO as well.

Mad Sculptures is an artist based in Japan who has sculpted mugs for MONDO.

Craig is an artist from Phoenix, Arizona.

Rockin’ Jelly Bean has become world known for his lascivious and wildly imaginative depictions of beautifully nasty and cutely obscene women. Despite his level of renown and infamy, he is known to sport a Lucha doll mask at all times and is said to never appear in public without it. Stylistically influenced by such artists as Ed Roth, Robert Williams and Robert Crumb, he started his career in Tokyo in 1990, following in their low-brow footsteps. In the late 90s, he relocated to LA where he started up his original brand EROSTY POP. In 2004, he established EROSTIKA as his official shop and continues to create cool n rockin’ art work.

This ceramics studio specializes in doing reproductions of the rarest "Crypto Mugs" (a play on the term "crypto-zoology" referring to tiki mugs that have almost never been seen in the wild but exist in a few private collections or in vintage menu artwork). There was a long-standing thread of Tiki Central devoted to the hunt for "Crypto Mugs".

Kevin is a cocktail book author and producer of tiki mugs and other merchandise through his Kahuna Kevin brand.

Denise is a member of the Texas Tikiphiles and helped to organize the creation and sale of CoronaTiki 2020 swizzle sticks as a fundraiser to help out-of-work tiki bartenders in Texas. Their was goal was to raise money for workers from Lei Low and 4 Kahunas and possibly others if possible.

Carrie Pi is based out of Los Angeles and carries a line of mugs made from vintage hobbyist molds, including Johnny Sens, Duncan, and Paul Marshall molds.

Jerry Berta (The Rainbow Professor) is the head and chief designer of Max's South Seas Hideaway In-House Production/Ceramic Studio. However, he does have a crew (including Bertiki and Olivia Hoffman) and not all the studio's pieces are designed by him -- some pieces are sculpted by outside artists (Gecko or Danielle Mann for instance) but manufactured and glazed in-house.

Jeff "Beachbum" Berry is the owner of Latitude 29, author of several highly influential cocktail books, and a historian of tiki culture, particularly the drinks associated with the tiki theme. In addition to researching and reconstructing lost recipes, he has invented and published his own cocktail recipes and, through Cocktail Kingdom, has a line of professional grade barware as well.

Makatiki is an italian pottery studio specializing in tiki mugs and other ceramics.

Known for innovative injection molding, cutting-edge digital printing and an unsurpassed commitment to exemplary products and service, Royer Corporation is the world’s leading manufacturer of custom swizzle sticks, beverage stirrers, picks and a variety of branded promotional products.

Guy is an accomplished tiki carver who worked for Oceanic Arts as a young man in the 1980s and carved the Moai that sits outside their Whittier location as well as the Pele Carving that Max's South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids now owns (and commissioned mug maker Danielle Mann from Black Lagoon Designs to sculpt a 2020 mug of).

Jerry is the in-house sculptor and ceramicist for Max's South Seas Hideaway. He has an extensive ceramics background and worked closely with Gecko during the opening of Max's to set up in-house ceramics production of Gecko's designs. Jerry also has many of his own designs for Max's that he produces on premises.

On a remote island in the middle of the Pacific, deep in the lush rainforest, just miles away from an active volcano, you can find artist Jacob Medina working on one of his whimsical tiki or skeleton paintings. Serenaded by coqui frogs and frequent downpours, Jacob creates his unique vision of Hawai’i by combining its legends, myths, and cultures with imagery from his Mexican heritage. “I was actually born on the Day of the Dead”, he explains, “so this holiday with its icons of sugar skulls and skeletons became very personal to me.” But it wasn’t just the special connection to his heritage and this holiday that influenced his artwork. “One of my earliest influences came from skateboarding. I used to copy graphics like Jim Phillips’s “Screaming Hand” or Powell Peralta’s skull series. They had a tremendous impact on my subject matter and style. Skateboarding was really my first glimpse into the Lowbrow art scene.” Right out of High School, Jacob spent five years in the army, with a deployment to Kosovo, after which he was ready for a big change, and moved to Hawai’i where he earned his BA in Art and was properly introduced to the icon of the tiki. “I think of the skeleton and tiki as armatures where I can build a variety of my own characters and archetypes that live in a world of fantasy, adventure, and humor.”

Lost Temple Traders began in 2019. They sell tiki mugs and collectible pins. Their products feature iconic images from adventure stories, including traveling headhunters and camp raiding monkeys.

Brendan is an artist located in Santa Monica.

Etsy seller of various tiki and tiki-adjacent crafts.

Bryon is an artist based out of Los Angeles, California.

Tufan is a sculptor and graphic artist who works for the special effects and film industry. He is also well known for his work with MONDO.

Jesse Hernandez (@UrbanAztec) is a visual artist born and raised in the San Francisco bay area. He is most widely recognized for his street art murals, vinyl toys, and diverse Illustration work. His style is known as Urban Aztec, a combination of graffiti and ancient indigenous culture. Hernandez’s artwork has been featured by Marvel, Warner Bros, DC Comics, WWE, Gears of war 4, San Jose Sharks, The Oakland Athletics, X-Box, Playstation, Sideshow Collectibles, Rockstar energy drink, Rolling Stone, Fandango, Juxtapoz, Run the Jewels, Oakland Museum, and the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. Hernandez has shown art in galleries and museums around the world. He has also painted murals in Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico city and Amsterdam.

Willy Kao is a California based artist.

Kaku Kaku Tiki (aka: Bill Grayson) designs and sells tiki related items like pins & mugs (usually with a Disney theme) through his Etsy storefront. He often partners with well known mug producers (Tiki Diablo, Munktiki, etc) to sculpt and craft his designs.

Squeaky Tiki's art is a combination of four simple elements: lowbrow tiki, retro 3D, screen printed gig posters and funny band names.

Far from a tiki traditionalist, Squeaky Tiki's style draws as much inspiration from authentic tiki and retro Polynesian Pop as it does from punk rock flyers, psychedelia, lowbrow hot rod kustom kulture, Looney-Tunes absurdism and cheesy ’50s sci-fi/monster movies.

Squeaky Tiki cut his teeth way back in the prehistoric days before computers, home printers and social media. Back when "copy and paste" literally meant copying and pasting. These were the early '90s when underground artists handcrafted flyers and zines for DIY music scenes in all-nite copy shops on big smelly B&W Xerox machines. ¢2 copy machines were the medium and the art was created with their limitations in mind. Delicate penmanship and shades of gray were out of the question. That kind of subtlety would get lost, so the art needed to be bold. Heavy black lines were de rigueur. Ahhhh, those big bold beautiful black lines. They were so delicious.

Well times change and ol’ Squeaky Teaks spent the last 30 years mastering the computer as an artistic tool. Rather than letting it dictate his style, he’s held onto his those big bold lines but he uses the computer to push his art into the 3D realm. Here's the rub: he uses modern technology to create an antiquated form of 3D. "Anaglyph" is the official word, but that's just a sciency term for 3D that uses those old red/blue glasses that were all the rage back in the '50s. The computer allows Squeaky Tiki to isolate each element in his art and move them independently forward or back on the three dimensional plane. The result is a multi-layered feast for the eyes... particularly after a couple Mai Tais.

The last piece of the puzzle dates back to Squeaky Tiki's teenage years when he and his friends would sit around drinking beers they'd clandestinely liberated from their unsuspecting dads and make up funny band names. They were, after all, going to all grow up to be famous rock stars and needed to be prepared. Sadly, that dream never came to fruition, but the past time of cracking each other up with lists of funny band names continues to this day. Indeed, some things never change.

Moku Huna creates Treasures Inspired by the Pacific Islands. Founded by Lou Zucaro (aka Luki), originally as Wondrous Arts (and now a Wondrous Arts brand), the company's first products were a series of mugs and a bowl based on the 40th Anniversary of Pink Panther by SHAG. Relaunched in 2019, Moku Huna's first products were the Ololupe mugs, inspired by an ancient Hawaiian god of the same name.