Design Toscano has outdone themselves this time...

...in pushing the limits of good taste/bad taste through the medium of resin statuary:

In the mailbox today, I found the new catalog, and -somebody PLEASE post that cover!!!-I gasped:

"AN ISLAND WELCOME FROM OUR GARDEN PYGMIES!"
"See our c'IBO-ODO' (a name that shall henceforth live in infamy, ed.), the Garden Pygmy!"
"Your neighbours will hear the rythm of the tribal drums!"

Imagine New Guinea masks, with lil'munchkin bodies, spears in hand...NEVER in the most absurd examples did 50s Polynesian Pop go this far....TOO far if you ask me!

Maybe this text from the catalogue will be more telling:

"The artist's fertile imagination has these delightful, troll-like caricatures, with bright thongs, dimpled cheeks and pudgy 4-fingered hands, standing ready to chuck their spears at trespassers. Our quality designer resin, fully painted home or garden works of art are way more fun than being boiled in oil!"

HA HA...HA...ha...ha

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2005-03-29 14:23 ]

Got my copy today too. Didn't last a minute in my house. The fraction of a second to get it out of the mailbox, look at the cover, shake my head in disbelief before it landed in the garbage can. I didn't even open the catalog. I am certainly no puritan as far as Tiki goes, and I even like the two resin tiki's they've had available for a few years, but these, these are just sad! This issue would be great for puppy potty pads.

To bad my puppy's already potty trained.

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2005-03-28 21:17 ]

Want to see something funny? If you go to the Toscano website http://www.designtoscano.com, you can see a mock-up cover of the catalogue. On the website cover, you see these "Garden Pygmies" Sven is talking about. But I just got the catalogue in the mail today and they went for a different cover with a hideus dragon. They must have figured out how much their design sucks. (BTW, I did purchase their 2 Tiki statues and they are actually very nice). In a way, I'm glad to see such ugly Tiki merchandise being produced. Sure keeps my wallet fuller. The only bummer is that this year Kevin & Jodi are going to empty my wallet (hell, my bank account!) with their Tiki Room merch. Oh well...
Your friend,
Louis

[ Edited by: atomobile on 2005-03-30 10:57 ]

Gad! That's hideous! I might put the bottle down for good if I ever saw that in somebody's yard.

BTW, did you see the frightening "Surf's Up" surfin' monkey? Looks like he's gonna punch my lights out. Real inviting.

New Arivals

Classic Silver Line Boats

[ Edited by: SilverLine on 2005-03-29 11:09 ]

Gee, I didn't think they were that bad! But then again, as they say "To each his gnome!"

I like the thong.

the thing with Design Toscano- They actually have some interesting ideas; it's the realization of those ideas that suck. if those Speedo-clad warriors were devoid of cartoon goodness and looked like a real mask, they might be pretty cool.

-Z

Still waiting for the Zuni fetish doll!

(FWIW, I seem to recall somebody was selling a version online a few year ago...)

Thongs and butt dimples...

So wrong...

:tiki:

I can not subscribe to their line "Our quality designer resin, fully painted home or garden works of art are way more fun than being boiled in oil!", since to me the cover IS the visual equivalent of being boiled in oil.
The image of the Ibo-Odos by themselves here on this thread is scary, but on the website you can see the full cover with the type on it, it looks like some perverse joke on "Islands Magazine"

On 2005-03-29 11:08, SilverLine wrote:

BTW, did you see the frightening "Surf's Up" surfin' monkey?
New Arivals

---

A real gem! In the catalogue, the text next to it says "Our artist has captured the bohemian spirit for your garden and home!"

Right. Whenever I think of "bohemian spirit", a surfing monkey comes right to mind!

In general, the text in the catalog is really priceless. Here is the copy for their c"Polynesian Warrior" Tiki Wall Sculpture:

"The art of Polynesian Pop is alive and well in this over-two-foot-tall wall sculpture that lends a warrior's cry and natural native instincts to your primitive decor. Heeding the call of the distant drummer, our island survivor was hand-carved, then expertly cast in designer resin for home and garden."

Other scary highlights:
Their "Moai Monoliths" look like they are wearing German WWII Steel Helmets, and, beware Bamboo Ben, the text for their "Thatch Roof Tiki Bar" begins:
:music: "We were truly amazed that this dead-ringer for bamboo and thatch was actually durable PVC..." :music:

Yup, me too. This IS 21st century Poly Pop.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2005-03-29 14:17 ]

On 2005-03-29 14:16, bigbrotiki wrote:
A real gem! In the catalogue, the text next to it says "Our artist has captured the bohemian spirit for your garden and home!"

Pure Tijuana Spirit is more like it! I used to buy those surfing monkey ceramic coin banks from the car-to-car vendors on the Mexican side of the border when I was a kid. The Toscano version is a pretty close copy. Still find them at garage sales every so often.

On 2005-03-29 12:09, Philot wrote:
Still waiting for the Zuni fetish doll!

Link

[edited by hanford to shorten the link]

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore on 2005-03-30 15:36 ]

Mai Tai, your hyper-long link blew this thread out of proportion, and made it practically unreadable...

Hanford, is there a way to avoid this?

On 2005-03-30 11:31, bigbrotiki wrote:
Mai Tai, your hyper-long link blew this thread out of proportion, and made it practically unreadable...

Hanford, is there a way to avoid this?

That's strange, what browser are you using? In Internet Explorer/Avant Browser, the link wraps.

btw Mai Tai, that movie looks completely ridiculous, I think I need to see it :P

Use Tiny URL:

tinyurl.com

Here's the link after tiny-fying:

http://tinyurl.com/55lny

Gnome + thong = wrong!!!!

Not to mention they're in green zebra-print thongs ... oh, the indignity!

Now I have to go wash my eyes out with soap!

Snow White's pals playing dress up.

How to scare the cats out of your yard.

I laughed my ass off at these little guys! And I'm pretty sure I'll be receiving them for my birthday...and so what?

I think they're cute! Its fun...and, after all, that's what this whole poly-pop thing is about anyway, isnt it? Having fun?

You mean to tell me that you guys didn't think these things were funny?

Whats all the fuss about? If it makes you laugh and you have some place to put them, then buy them!
If they offend you, then don't.

I'm a bit thicker skinned than most, but I certainly don't see the 'horror' in a few garden pigmes.