Post #377484 by Moai_Mama on Thu, May 1, 2008 2:15 PM

On 2008-05-01 06:59, Swanky wrote:
To clarify, I am not saying I want stuff to look like our version of Tiki, but wondering why I see African masks that look like an old authentic African mask and tiki masks that look like clowns.

Someone is buying it all and using it as decor in some way. It's not tacky if you do it right as with many things.

There is Polynesian culture and Tiki drew from it. There is native American culture, etc. We see reasonable and nice versions of a lot of old cultural arts. But not Polynesian. Maybe it is our own fault. Well, Don's fault. He made the tiki bar and it is echoing down to today as a party theme and all anyone recalls is someone said tacky and now all anyone knows is that dying breath of "tacky tiki". Don muddied the waters and now they are extreme.

There are many realistic masks and works of Art available, especially online. Here's one example which I enjoy browsing through: http://www.art-pacific.com/index.htm or you can Google: Hawaiian/Pacific Islands Home Decor, for a variety of decent quality tiki style websites.
Although it's true that tiki masks (and most anything else, for that matter) look like clowns @ party supply stores, I don't know of too many folks who shop for home decor @ a party supply store~ most of that stuff is made cheap to be disposable.
Sometimes the higher quality wicker/rattan furniture stores also carry nice tiki masks and such.
Does anyone else know of some authentic tiki home decor shops or websites?