BarConic is a bar products wholesaler formed in 1995. They supply everything from shakers to bar mats, liquor pourers to muddlers to mugs. Primary offices based in Largo, Florida and a large warehouse facility in New Salisbury, Indiana.
Bare Bones leans towards the spooky (Tropical Goth) side of tiki and provide bartending services, host pop-up events, and sell their own merchandise.
From Bare Bones:
"Bare Bones Tiki invites you to join our world of spooky, delicious tiki. We create the most delicious drinks this side of the Mississippi with a fresh spin using the best flavors Florida has to offer.
Uri, Eric, and Mateo have a combined 25+ years of experience behind the bar. From Miami Beach to Washington, D.C., we create memorable experiences for our guests.
Interested in hiring us for an event or a pop-up? Contact us using our contact page or via email at [email protected]."
West Palm Beach Florida based manufacturer of ceramic tiki items.
Barney West (1919-1981) was a tiki carver during the golden age of midcentury Polynesian Pop.
West, a native of Seattle, came to the Bay Area as a boy when his parents moved to Oakland. His father was chief engineer for the steam schooner Wapama which is now part of a San Francisco waterfront museum. During World War II, West joined the Merchant Marine and served as a steward on Liberty ships in the South Pacific. During his 15 years at sea, West became interested in the native art of Easter Island, Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Hawaii, an infatuation that later had a great influence on his art. West moved to an ark on Corte Madera creek shortly after the end of World War II. To set himself up in the woodcarving business, he drove spikes and laid heavy rails for a railroad crew. West’s first wood carving came from redwood pilings he floated to his home from San Pablo Bay. His first major customer was restaurateur Trader Vic Bergeron who purchased many pieces of West’s early art.
After establishing himself as a wood carver, West opened a studio in Sausalito ("Tiki Junction") on land lent to him by Zack’s owner, Sam Zakessian in 1963. The tiny studio soon became engulfed by tikis and other assorted tropical carvings and vegetation. West began his carving career with conventional carving tools but soon progressed to a chain saw. He shipped in mammoth redwood logs by rail and shipped his commissioned works on flatcars all over the country, West’s art can be found in London, Hawaii, and Cuba. West’s business thrived well in Sausalito and at one time he had five apprentices working with him.
Norman is an artist and the front man of the Ghastly Ones, which is a spooky themed surf band.
David Wolfe is a tiki carver and antiques dealer based out of Georgia.
In 2007, Bauer Pottery Company of Los Angeles purchased a 35,000 square foot ceramics factory in Highland, California, named Cactus Ceramics. For the first time since Janek Boniecki revived the Bauer Line, it enabled the company to bring all of the products together under one roof. While organizing the new factory space, Boniecki discovered several original dies and production molds in various Tiki designs. Since the items were still in good condition, they were stored for a possible future project. Eleven years later, Bauer Pottery has decided to bring these classic designs into production. During December 2017, Boniecki introduced several of these Tiki designs, such as Surfer Girl, Big Mouth, and Two Face into the Bauer Showroom in Los Angeles to gauge public interest and audience feedback; the result was way above their expectations. Due to this overwhelming interest, Bauer Pottery has decided to offer these designs and more in limited runs on their website.
Buzzy is a well known Tiki carver and artist. His work can be viewed at The San Diego Tiki Factory. He sells some of his smaller pieces through Etsy under "House of Buzz".
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.
Scott relocated from Southern California to Maui about 30 years ago and has since built a name for himself with his brand Beachbumz! Scott produces one of a kind tiki mugs direct from his studio in Kihei.
Scott relocated from Southern California to Maui about 30 years ago and has since built a name for himself with his brand Beachbumz! Scott produces one of a kind tiki mugs direct from his studio in Kihei.
Blake is a ceramicist and tiki mug maker based out of Riverside, California.
A Florida-based company selling Chinese made products, many of which borrowed tiki designs from Accoutrements/Archie Mcphee's. Appeared to be in business as late as 2008, but may have gone out of business since then...
Beauce Pottery operated in Quebec, Canada from 1939-1989.
It is unclear when exactly they made tiki pieces, but they appear to be commissioned pieces for the Marie-Antoinette and other Canadian Tiki Restaurants from the 1960s.
Their logo is "cb" for "Ceramique de Beauce". Pieces are also marked with catalogue numbers in most cases.
Becky Cloonan is an American comic book creator, known for work published by Tokyopop and Vertigo. Among her many accolades, she was the first female comic artist to draw Batman. She designed the Splendor and Riches mug for Mondo.
Lee Lanier is a contemporary figurative painter who lives and works in Boulder City, Nevada and runs a gallery in Las Vegas, Nevada. Under the moniker of Beezlebug, he creates tiki mugs and sells them on Etsy.
Ben is a Portland, Oregon based artist and sculptor. He currently works at Laika animation studio.
Ben Vagnozzi makes tiki themed products for sale through Forgotten Idols Tiki.
The company was founded in 1964 on West 56th Street in New York City by 25-year-old Hiroaki Aoki, the father of Steve Aoki and Devon Aoki.
Aoki, a wrestler who had qualified for but did not attend the 1960 Summer Olympics, started the restaurant with US $10,000 (equivalent to $87,371 in 2021) earned from driving an ice cream truck in Harlem. The first restaurant, Benihana of Tokyo, was named for the red safflower that was the name for the coffee shop owned by his parents in Tokyo.
Aoki's concept was for the meals to be theatrically prepared by a knife-wielding, joke-telling chef at a teppanyaki table surrounded by a wooden eating surface in front of the guests (Teppan meaning "steel grill" or "griddle" and yaki meaning "grilled" or "broiled"). It did not do well until early 1965, when Clementine Paddleford of the New York Herald Tribune gave it a rave review. The Beatles and Muhammad Ali were among the celebrities who then descended on the four-table restaurant. The restaurant then paid for itself in just 6 months.
Soon after, Rocky opened a second Benihana in New York and a third Benihana restaurant in Chicago. By 1972, there were six Benihana locations in the United States, with more opening every day. Sadly, Rocky Aoki died in 2008 at the age of 69. But, his legacy lives on with more than 70 Benihana restaurants in the United States, Caribbean, and Central and South America, and more than 100 million meals served.
Corporate headquarters is located in Aventura, Florida, United States.
NOTE: Benihana is known for its souvenir cocktail mugs, most of which come in a completely white glaze. These were put into service soon after the formation of the restaurant in the mid 60s. Some are long-running designs and some were issued for a limited time at only some locations. Among tiki mug collectors, there is great controversy as to whether these should be included as "Tiki Mugs" but they are ubiquitous and most mug hunters are familiar with them from hunting thrift stores and estate sales, if not from going to the actual restaurants. These are labeled under the site as "Orientalia" and many of them were originally used to serve mai-tais or other tropical cocktails, although it appears that some mugs can now be directly ordered from Benihana at their online shop.
Benner Glass Company trademarked the Siesta Ware line in 1963. Siesta Ware is known for its characteristic metal bands at top and bottom of glasses, often with wooden handles. This company was based out of Jacksonville, Florida, but also had manufacturing facilities in Los Angeles. The founder, Dexter Benner, died in 2007.
Benzart (1945-Present) is an accomplished tiki carver based in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. His first big tiki carving job was in 1989 at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas where he carved many pieces for them including a 13' tall Ku from redwood. In 2004 he discovered Tiki Central and that's where his "Benzart" moniker began. He had a huge presence on the site, both in posting his own pieces and in encouraging other artists and carvers. In addition to his larger pieces, Ben is also known for his smaller intricate necklace carvings. Health issues over the years have prevented him from being as prolific as he might hope, but for those collectors that have one of his pieces in their collection, they dearly treasure his work.
Beon is part of Tiki Squad, which is based out of Florida and features the designs of Loonatiki and Beon.
Tom Laura aka Big Toe is a Southern California-based artist specialized in hot rod and surf art.
Born and raised under the bright and colorful neon lights of Las Vegas, Mike Biggs has been a lifetime student of the visual arts whose creative streak has only grown larger and more aggressive with age so that at this point he’s evolved into a being of pure creativity with a “normal” streak. He has melded his love of the spooky monsters that go bump in the night with a vintage feel that has permeated all of his past artistic lives as a fine artist, a freelance graphic design artist, and then a 13 year stint as a tattoo artist. These experiences and skill sets have all converged into this latest venture that has culminated in Biggs Tiki. With designs inspired by decades of marinating his brain in the genres of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, low brow humor, and nerd culture, Biggs’ concoctions bring an epically unique twist to the Tiki mug game. Coming at you from his contorted mind to your table, these are collectible oddities you can’t take your eyes off, but can definitely wrap your lips around!
Kauai based Tiki carver extraordinaire Bill Collins's passion for carving is Marquesan inspired and he is known for his traditional carvings made from native woods.
Kaku Kaku Tiki (aka: Bill Grayson) designs and sells tiki related items like pins & mugs (usually with a Disney theme) through his Polynesian Village Etsy storefront. He often partners with well known mug producers (Tiki Diablo, Munktiki, etc) to sculpt and craft his designs.
Danielle Mann is an artist based in Queensland, Australia. She sells her work under the banner of Black Lagoon Designs through Etsy and other venues.
This business is owned and operated by Danielle Mann (a.k.a Black Lagoon), an artist based in Queensland, Australia.
Blue Mountain Pottery was a Canadian pottery company located in Collingwood, Ontario. It was founded in 1947 by Jozo Wieder and closed in 2004. Originally producing hand painted ski motifs on purchased blanks, production of the red clay items started in 1953-1954. It went on to produce various types of pottery, from animal figurines to jugs, pots and vases. The company's products have a large fan base and are collected worldwide.
Bob Pauley joined Pixar in 1993 as a character designer and sketch artist. Following Toy Story, Bob served as art director on A Bug’s Life and production designer on Monster’s, Inc. and as co-production designer for Cars. He continued the role of production designer on Toy Story 3.
This is a team made up of Bobby Doran (Bodo, based out of Simi Valley) and Ben Short (GoblinTown Creations, based out of Fresno California). They make spectacular shrunken heads, paintings, dioramas, masks, tiki mugs and other artworks.
This company started in 1992, belongs to Crazy Al, and markets his carving and mugs.
Ron Ferrell is an artist and shop owner out of Camarillo, California where he can be found in The Rincon Room, one of the most beautiful and elaborate home tiki bars in Southern California. He also vends his lamps and mugs and other wares under the banner of The Rincon Trading Post. Additionally, he runs Lost Cargo, once a financing business for bars and artists to make their own signature mugs, but now focused on his own mug designs only.
This is a company run by Jeff Wehenkel. Jeff is an artist out of San Francisco, CA. His mug designs include traditional Tiki as well as classic monster imagery.
Jeff is an artist out of San Francisco, CA. His work incorporates classic Tiki and monster imagery.
Bosko is an artist and tiki carver based near San Diego, California.
David Lea, a San Diego-based artist, does contract work as a sculptor and mold-maker. He has worked mainly in the collectibles field and specializes in figurative sculpture.
Brendan is an artist located in Santa Monica.
Brian Kesinger is an Annie award winning story artist, illustrator and author. His 20+ year career at Disney has spanned both hand drawn and cg animated films from Tarzan to Frozen 2. In addition to Brian's film work, he has also become a celebrated author and illustrator of several books that showcase his style, wit and ability to tell engaging stories in original ways. His artistic journey has lead him to find an additional home with Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm where he blends his animation background with the comic art form to create dazzling and expressive art.
Brian is a freelance commercial artist and sculptor from the Washington D.C. and Baltimore area. He has done several mug projects for MONDO.
Bridget McCarty is the artist of the popularly known "Full of Life" miniature cats. Her cat sculptures and miniatures have been featured in MINIATURE COLLECTOR MAGAZINE, MINIATURA (Spain), DOLLHOUSE MINIATURES MAGAZINE (UK), and collected around the world, as well as recognized by Warner Brothers Consumer Products for a line of THE WIZARD OF OZ™ miniatures.
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.
Buzz Rhino is an artist from Huntington Beach, CA.
Buzz Rhino is an artist based in Huntington Beach, CA.
Bwana Spoons is a painter who emphasizes fanciful creatures and a color palette that evokes mid-20th-century pop culture.
C.Martinu of Spain seems to have been at his zenith in the 1970s, having started out in the 1950s. The majority of his pieces seem to focus on animals, ducks, monkeys, etc...however, he was also the earliest of the Spanish tiki mug makers and many of his designs seem to have been carried over to Arte 4 and Porcelanas Pavon. Spanish tiki mugs with his signature on them will be among the earliest from Spain.
Launched @2015 by Melaina Tracy.
This business started with handcrafted swizzles, signs, cake toppers & more...
Tiki fans probably best recognized them for their flat acrylic swizzles produced in small batches for Tiki tOny and others.
However, the original small pink brick-and-mortar California Lustre shop in Palm Springs eventually closed and Melaina and her husband moved to Austin, Texas and had to put many of their beloved California Lustre products on hold. Hopefully to return at some point.
Recently, Melaina has focused more on online sales with her Lustrewear brand of vintage clothing (and a new Lustrewear website launched in 2021).
Cam is a carver and an artist and has written and produced at least one children's book with a tiki theme: Pineapple Poet and the Curse of the Smoothie Man (2003).