Wayne Coombs new creation!

I have become familiar with some tikiphiles in the Rockledge/Cocoa area and fellow TCers as well. When one of them told me that Wayne had outfitted the facade of the building I had to find this place. There it was, fantastic! Jimi said that Wayne was there daily for about a month until completion. The Tiki had always been a part of their logo design and they wanted it re-created for them as entry to the building and by none other than Mai Tiki! Great job Wayne!! And from what Jimi tells me, we might see an indoor Tiki bar as well, for the clients that is (sure Jimi...)

Tres cool! Congrats Wayne, I was wondering where you been all this time! True twentyfirst century Tiki, drawing from the mid-century esthetic.

that tiki is very cool, but that rock work is PHENOMINAL! It looks like real rock! cool!!! I don't think I've ever seen a (real)wayne coombs tiki bar...I bet that would look awesome.
Tikik - could you post some pics when (if) it ever gets done?

Is that all sculpted foam? I would do my whole house like that if the wife would let me. Very cool.

It has been rumored that Wayne is opening a Tiki bar just adjacent to his studio in Cocoa Beach. I hope this is true - I'm sure it will be sight to see. I'll update this thread tomorrow after I visit with him and bring him some souvenirs from this years Hukilau.

Wayne already has an interest in a tiki bar at the end of the Cocoa Beach Pier. If he opens a bar near his place - or participates in it - that would be great. Tell him to take you to the pier, and say "aloha" for us.
KG

I'll be sure to say hi for you and looking forward to seeing you guys in January!

Very cool! I didnt think the tiki was that big until I compared it against the door height - hes a biggun!

For a while I have thought it would be cool to do an underground tiki bar (like the caves the pirates always hide treasure in, in the movies). Like have the tiki bar looking as if it is built into the rock.

Hello, it's Jimi. This is my office building and I worked with Wayne on this project. Thanks to Tiki Kiliki for the post! I work in a family business and we're an Audio/Video Systems Integrator for Commercial and Residential markets. If you want to know more about the business, visit http://www.islandsys.net.

After we lost the canopy over the door to a hurricane in '04, we envisioned a completely new entrance to the building, and wanted to make something that incorporated our logo. So, we called up Wayne and got started on this "Building Identity Project". Wayne has made small recreations of our logo in the past, but never anything like this!

It was really exciting to watch everything come together. The next plan is to do something similar with Wayne for our Home Theater Demo Room that we are remodeling inside our building. More news on that later, but we hope to start working on it early next year.

You really need to see it in person to appreciate how massive it is. There are a lot of nice little touches, like cracks painted in the stairs and a hidden self-portrait by Wayne. It's pretty cool to come to work every day and walk through this entrance!

The dimensions are:

Complete Facade:
Height: 15’ at the highest point
Width: 32’ at the widest point
Depth: 5’ under the canopy

Tiki:
Height: 12.5’
Width: 2’

Here's some really great photos of the construction process. If you've ever met Wayne, you know he's a real tall guy, so when you see him next to the Tiki you can tell how truly massive it is!

Also, if an TC'ers are in the area and would like to see it or take pictures, feel free! We're at 225 Yellow Place in Rockledge, Florida. If you're driving on 95 through Brevard County (maybe on your way to the Mai Kai) we're only a few miles east off exit 195.

Jimi

Ruinthejimi, Welcome to Tiki Central. What a great project you have there. Wayne has outdone himself again. Thanks for sharing. One of these days We may get to come by your place and check it out.
Glad to have you here.

It is beyond fabulous!!!!!!!! We are so lucky to have waYno here in Central Fla!!! Kudos to y'all who commissioned this wonderful piece.
Yea!!!!!!!!!!!

[ Edited by: Tiki Bree 2005-12-30 19:39 ]

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011104230306

While in the Cocoa Beach area, saw this Wayne Coombs article in the Florida Today newspaper.

COCOA BEACH — Tikis, Polynesian-style wood carvings, now stand like sentries along walkways at the International Palms Resort in Cocoa Beach where coconut palm trees once stood.

"After the cold winter, all these palms died, and we struggled with what to do with them," said Rob Pici, the hotel's general manager.

Enter Mai Tiki Studio in Cocoa Beach.

"This project started as a result of the freezes killing a whole bunch of strategically located palm," said Wayne Coombs, of Mai Tiki Studio in Cocoa Beach, which carved about 20 of sculptures and is continuing work at the 500-room hotel.

"It gives the property a lot of quality. It gives it a lot of character," Pici said of the trees' transformation.

Mai Tiki, which has carved about 20 of the figures, faces with exaggerated features, out of the trunks of coconut trees that were killed by cold weather last year at the hotel, is continuing the work at the 500-room resort.

Charlie Bridges of Kissimmee, a hotel guest, stopped to watch as Coombs' nephew carved a tiki where a cluster of palm trees once stood near the hotel's beachside restaurant.

"This looks good," he said. "This is cool. This sure looks better than that dead palm."

Coombs, who has been carving tikis for 37 years, said the carvings, which are sealed with polyurethane, are being made into three basic characters. A guard, which has a serious look, a Joker, with a happy face and a warrior, ready for battle.

The dead palms were cut to about six feet tall for the carving.

Pici said changes were being made at the hotel, including the renovation of blocks of rooms and the beachside restaurant. The tikis were part of the change to make use of the dead palms.

The promenade, which leads from the front of the hotel to the ocean, is a beach access walkway open to the public.

[ Edited by: senioraqua 2011-04-23 14:06 ]

You should have given us locals a holler and we could have shared a tropical beverage...And a great story as well...

So true, then maybe I wouldn't of had to hear Buffet tunes at the local Fishlips restaurant.

I think I'll take the long way to Hukilau this year and go by and see those and grab some snaps. What a great idea.

There are more Mai Tiki and inspired works in that area than you can shaka a stick at.

Mai Tiki mentioned in today's Orlando Sentinel:

Brevard County is the destination for many Central Floridians during our fiery summer months. Most of us go for the beaches, but there are all kinds of art, artists, galleries, studios and museums in my birth county.

Many Orlandoans know about the cluster of galleries and studios in Cocoa Village (old downtown Cocoa near State Road 520 and U.S. Highway 1). But you may not know that a little further east, Cocoa Beach has several art venues, galleries and studios, most within blocks of Minutemen Causeway and State Road A1A. A particularly unique art haven there is Mai Tiki Gallery (251 Minutemen Causeway, 321-783-6890), the gallery and studios of artist Wayne Coombs. The gallery is full of Coombs' original paintings, super driftwood sculptures/carvings, traditional palm-trunk tikis and (my favorite) Coombs' reinterpretation of tiki-as-Modernist-sculpture. Mai Tiki is a rather Bohemian hub for the local artists' community, with impromptu rock concerts, working artists and occasional gallery nights.

Full text with pics:
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-06-02/entertainment/os-hummel-cocoa-beach-0603-20110602_1_fifth-avenue-art-gallery-art-venues-galleries-and-studios