Is you is or is you ain't a Tiki mug?

I was curious about starting a thread about what is a Tiki mug and what isn't Tiki mug.

The reason I bring this up is that I was down at the Salvation Army store by my work (and for some odd reason, results in at least a Tiki or two a month) today and came across four Benihana of Tokyo mugs.

They were the typical white ones that you see about all of the time (I am pretty sure you know what I am talking about).

Well, I decided to pick them up for 2 bones each because a couple of them had gold leaf and all of them had crazing, so I figured why not.

Well, what are your thoughts? Are these Benihana of Tokyo mugs Tiki? Or would you classify them in an entirely different category.

Another point to this thread is to maybe clear up for us newer folk what is truly defined as Tiki or is there even such a thing?

For instance, I know that those totem pole mugs from the North East aren't Tiki, but you can always find them labled as such in antique stores and eBay.

Well, I really look forward to your insight.

Aloha!

-CMC

I'd classify Benihana mugs as inspired by tiki mugs. The Benihana chain opened in 1964- not sure when the mugs came along, but serving tropical drinks in an "ethnic" mug that you can take home must have definitely been inspired by tiki restaurants and/or the chinese places that started doing it as well.

On 2004-02-27 20:29, Cool Manchu wrote:

....I know that those totem pole mugs from the North East aren't Tiki, but you can always find them labled as such in antique stores and eBay.

Aaaah, my pet peeve! My often repeated motto is:
IF IT SAYS TIKI ON IT, IT SHOULD HAVE TIKI IN IT!

Now where would we end up if we would go by e-bay naming standards!

The insidious naming of items that have no shred of Tiki about them is doubley reproachable because it is an example of not only ignorance, but ignorance mixed with the desire to gain a commercial advantage from invoking the name of the god.

As I said before, Benihana was never a Polynesian restaurant, and while I adore Japanese, it is in no way Tiki. Other theme mugs, like the Harevey's Fog Cutter and the Fu Manchu, are simply named by their cocktail or their look, but they are NOT Tiki mugs, just because they were used in Tiki bars.

Otherwise we would have Tiki forks and Tiki spoons.

If it depicts a Polynesian idol (or any Oceanic godhead) it's a Tiki mug, nothing else is.

The Book of Tiki defines Tiki style as the period from the mid 1950s to the late 60s when the Tiki figure became THE logo of Polynesian Pop. Everything else before or after is Polynesian Pop or Hawaiiana at best, or generic tropical pieces of hacked wood at worst.
The decline of Tiki style happened in large part because of the indifferent watering down of the iconography of the style with non-specific imagery and terminology.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2004-02-28 11:33 ]

Well, if a Fu Manchu mugs was used in a Tiki Bar to serve a Tiki cocktail, is it not a tiki mug? If it's depicted in the tiki menu along with the "tiki shaped" mug, it's "tiki."

Then there is the other side. The tiki mug in the antique store labeled "clown mug." Ignorance cuts both ways.

Back when I started collecting mugs I used to be quite hard line about what was and wasn't tiki. Initially I was only interested in mugs that depicted somewhat "authentic" (troublesome word) tikis -- so no Mr. Bali Hai man, not even a Tiki Bob or Sneaky Tiki as they were too stylized for my taste.
But I've softened quite a bit over the years -- now I collect anything that may have been used to serve a tropical drink in a polynesian themed restaurant, be it in the shape of a coconut, pineapple, severed head, hula girl, chunk of bamboo or whatever, and use the term "tiki mug" as a convenient, if less than precise catch-all.

Otherwise we would have Tiki forks and Tiki spoons.

We need these!

To eat our Tiki Food!!!

Pretty soon there will be Tiki Diapers!!!

Then Tiki Oil Filters for cars!

Then Tiki Computers!!!

Then Tiki Space Ships!!!

The Right Honorable RevBambooBen suggested:

Then Tiki Space Ships!!!

Wow! wouldn't that be a cool Estes rocket!

On 2004-02-28 16:03, Sweet Daddy Tiki wrote:
...anything that may have been used to serve a tropical drink in a polynesian themed restaurant, be it in the shape of a coconut, pineapple, severed head, hula girl, chunk of bamboo or whatever, and use the term "tiki mug" as a convenient, if less than precise catch-all.

Weeeell..you've said it right there:
COCONUT mug, PINEAPPLE mug, HULA GIRL mug...
that's what they are, not Tiki mugs. I would allow "Tiki Bar mug", or "Tiki-period mug"...

...but who am I kidding, that won't happen. I guess I should be content with having coined the term Polynesian Pop and having defined Tiki as a style that put it on the map.

But Swanky, I still have to ad this:

"Well, if a Fu Manchu mugs was used in a Tiki Bar to serve a Tiki cocktail, is it not a tiki mug? If it's depicted in the tiki menu along with the "tiki shaped" mug, it's "tiki."

So does that make all the regular glassware that many of the cocktails were served in and that appear in menus next to Tiki mugs "Tiki glasses"?

If any of you feel that your Fu Manchus and Pineapple mugs aren't really tiki mugs, feel free to send them to me. I'd be happy to take these 'non tiki mugs' off your hands. I'm sure they are just taking up space on your shelves....

I think tiki mug. Therefore, I am?

Where does the "Sven Tiki Mug" fit in?

On 2004-02-28 20:46, RevBambooBen wrote:

Otherwise we would have Tiki forks and Tiki spoons.

We need these!

To eat our Tiki Food!!!

Pretty soon there will be Tiki Diapers!!!

Then Tiki Oil Filters for cars!

Then Tiki Computers!!!

Then Tiki Space Ships!!!

Google Image Search for "Tiki Rocket:"

Guide Kathy Hamlin does a great job on Tiki history and culture, the modern subculture, and some great drinks and links! Tiki Food, too! Yum!

http://www.tikiwonder.com/

That's 2 out of 5.

Bah Humbug....

Perhaps the use of upper and lowercase "T" could be used differentiate between "Tiki mug" being those form the Tiki era and "tiki mug" being a poly-pop mug. Whats probably needed is a word to describe those mugs which are atributed to tiki culture but ain't Tiki mugs.

Sweet Daddy Tiki says:

Back when I started collecting mugs I used to be quite hard line about what was and wasn't tiki. Initially I was only interested in mugs that depicted somewhat "authentic" (troublesome word) tikis -- so no Mr. Bali Hai man, not even a Tiki Bob or Sneaky Tiki as they were too stylized for my taste.

Please tell us, if you remember, what all qualified for that list. I would like, at the core of my collection and displayed apart from others, a sub-set of mugs that are closest to actually portraying the various deities.

well, tikij. I can't tell you the names of any specific mugs, i still hardly know my lono from my ku, but the mugs i was looking for preferably had a woodgrain look and a circle of sharp pointy teeth.

I'm new but I want to weigh in on this one.

I don't think everyone places Tiki in the same context.

I display my Tiki mugs as part of a mid-century bar setup (a credenza-type bar, not one you'd stand up behind) in a room that has a orientalist/tribal-meets-1962 feeling.

My collection includes traditional Tiki heads, but also some new mugs (which stick out because they're not shiny) and some more figural ones like Hula bowls, an Orchids of Hawaii surfer girl, Fu Manchu, etc.

For me they're all Tiki mugs because they're associated with Polynesian pop, and my memories of Tikis from when I was a kid have to do with old-fashioned Chinese restaurants, which frequently had a Tiki bar of sorts (or at least a Tiki drink menu.)

I can certainly understand someone saying Fu Manchu isn't a Tiki mug because it doesn't depict a Tiki God if they're strictly a collector of Tiki mugs and doesn't try to place them in any kind of larger design context.

For me, the mugs fit in with my other Tiki carvings, African and Mexican sculpture/carving, a glass Eames-type oval cocktail table, an Indian Gabbeh rug (geometric figural animals,) masks, and chrome barware (and as an added anachronism, an aluminum rocket-shaped lava lamp.) It's a cool-looking room.

So rather than saying which mugs are and aren't capital-T Tiki, why not just look at it from the perspective of your goals as a collector? I definitely think that if a mug was used in a Tiki bar to serve a drink, or seen on a Tiki menu, it's a Tiki mug, regardless of whether it's a godhead, surfer girl or whatnot.

And the proof is in the pudding: by this rigourous definition of a Tiki Mug needing to have a Tiki Head design, that crazy-looking severed head mug from BoT would scarecely be a Tiki, n'es ce pas?

Just my $0.02

Fo' Shizzle

[ Edited by: CowboyMike on 2004-03-06 18:43 ]

and chrome barware (and as an added anachronism,

Chrome with African, Mexican and Tiki, etc?! Did you mean to say, Anarchism instead of anachronism? Dude, you're all over the place!!! I like it!!!! Arrrrrrr!!!

(it's been a long dream of mine to Chrome Bamboo!)

question ~ this board has "tiki finds," which includes some relatively poly-pop items, and "beyond tiki finds," which is anything else not tiki or poly-pop. where should hawaiiana items ideally go ~ things that are "this close" to tiki yet contain none?

or is this getting to persnickety? :)

mahalo, j$

Hmm, good question j$

I tend to think of Beyond Tiki as having nothing to do with tiki, even arguably, so I'm happy to break Sven's motto of "If it says tiki on it, it should have a tiki on it" in this context. Therefore, I'm fine with Hawaiiana being here, personally.

oh i couldnt decide: add to this thread (making Sven happy), or start a new "find (as suggested by Humuhumu).. but since i don't think this mug is officially Tiki ~ here it is:

anyone have info on this Daga mug? i tried to take a pix of the underside, to no avail. its says Daga Hawaii

the writing and highlights seem to be gold leaf pen applied after glazing.
El Sid's Sparks , Nev.

There's a Daga mug from Hawaii at the thrift store right now. It's shaped like a football. I keep putting it with the mugs, they keep putting it back with the vases.

Being a tiki purist is boring to me. I like faux-Polynesiana more than the real thing and I enjoy the kitsch angle, so my home bar and mug collection features a jumble of different Tropical/Asian styles that I think can all live comfortably under the same thatched umbrella.

Does my volcano mug qualify?

I saw a mug one time in an antique store that from a distance looked like a don the beachcomber or something, then up close it turned out to be some type of Davey Crocket Mug marked 1854 or something on the bottom. I didn't have the $20 bucks and I couldn't figure out why it was stamped 1854 either (maybe they were numbered?), but none the less I'd say... it's not tiki...yet, but wait till I buy it and glue little plastic leis to it!

there's a place near the harbor here that has lots of handled barrel mugs decorating its nautical theme. i enjoy the subtle vibe that although they aren't tiki, you could put a mai kai rum barrel in it and be polypoppy.

here is my latest "is you ain't a tiki mug"...its a starbuck's "create your very own tumbler". i crammed as many Tiki Central people onto my insert as possible! makes me happy to sip my java surrounded by my TC Ohana!

This starbucks mug is on Ebay as I type this. In the smallest picture, looks even more like a Moai or something.

Who knew that five dollar garage sale tiki mugs and five dollar coffee went hand and handle.

[ Edited by: teaKEY 2006-01-17 17:45 ]

Freddie

Awesome "Tiki Rocket" I live near Canaveral where Maj. Nelson used to direct and observe everything. Relative for me Ohana !