Post #395913 by jimingig on Tue, Jul 22, 2008 7:50 PM

On 2007-10-05 23:23, Koolau wrote:
Very cool to see this post. I have two of those mugs - they are very slightly different, with a shorter upper rim. I purchased them here on Oahu about a year ago, and had never seen another. The underside has the same manufacturer's stamp, and the words "Designed for Hawaiian Village Hotel".

I always assumed this referred to the pre-Hilton Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel. With the additional info that Totem Pottery also made the Hilton Hawaiian Village black triangular mugs, I think that's a pretty safe assumption.

By the way, my friends call this the Chewbacca Mug, much to my displeasure. But you know, it does look like the furball.

[ Edited by: Koolau 2007-10-05 23:41 ]

Hi Guys, Hinton Blaisdell is my uncle and he hand built every piece of Totem Pottery. He was in business from the 1950s through the late 80s. The Tiki Mugs came in two colors, beige and mat black. They also came in two sizes 5 & 7 inch tall. They were sold at Hawaiian Village and maybe another Hotel or two. Uncle Hinton had a tiny studio on Beach Drive in Port Orchard, WA. He also sold the northwest indian style totem pottery. It was sold mostly at Blake Island Tillicum Village, Hurricane Village and I think the Olympic Hotel.

Rest Assured this is not cheap tourist crap. Every piece was hand made by my uncle, he never had a helper other than his wife Eujeane who helped with the art work/ design of the pottery. Also you can be sure that the design used real indian totems etc. Bear, beaver, moon etc.