Post #462520 by Pahoehoe Ule on Wed, Jun 17, 2009 9:50 AM

At the risk of setting off the purists among us, I think tikidom will exile itself into a second decline if it doesn't allow external influences to introduce a certain amount of variation. While there are a few iconic standards that should always help define what is "tiki" and what is merely a face on a mug or a log, if tiki design doesn't start appropriating elements from other disciplines, it will soon find itself at the ass-end of a lowbrow cul-de-sac of no return.

While I think there's room for everyone under tikidom's umbrella, tiki design as a movement needs to seriously rethink its tendencies toward Rat Fink & Spongebob. The mugs of fifty years ago still resonate today because of the timeless elements of their design, itself adopted and mutated from tribal origins. Will Shag and Spongebob still hold up in another fifty years? Only time will tell.

One thing that is pretty certain is that the days of finding tiki in thrift shops is essentially over, and from here on it's eBay-only for the vintage stuff. Which means that it's up to the new guys to maintain enough tradition in their design to merit a degree of authenticity, and yet incorporate enough innovation to keep it interesting to everyone, not just tikiphiles.

Tiger Lily & I don't have a tiki bar in our home, just a kitchen bookshelf with all our bottles. We do have tiki art throughout the house, and a magnificent moai (courtesy of Basement Kahuna) out back, but it's all incorporated into a wider design motif of Polynesian, Adirondack, Asian and whatever-the-hell-we-like. Our display items are constantly revolving because we consciously choose to live in a small, uncluttered home, and so our refinement (or snobbishness) is a necessity born of physics. We aren't big socializers, because we're self-employed shop owners and are usually just too tired to entertain anyone except the cat. And as much as we enjoy our occasional jaunts to the Mai-Kai, neither of us wants to live there. How exotic can it be if you come home to it everyday? And doesn't tiki puritanism ultimately evolve into everyone having the exact same mug collection?

The first wave of tikidom was all about escapism: a fictionalized throwback to a simpler, more authentic reality than the Space Age offered. Now, we can escape by simply turning off the phones, TVs and computers. I, for one, don't need or want to escape my reality: I've taken reality by the ankles and made it my bitch. For us, tikidom makes reality preferable to escapism.

Let's venture out into the wilderness of style and see what we can snare to bring back for the betterment of the tribe.