Tiki Mugs, to add color to our everyday life.
From the South Pacific to our living room, with the most original shapes and colors.
You are in a bar. Happy ukulele music is playing from the speakers, bartenders and bartenders wear fake flower necklaces, torches on the walls make the evening more atmospheric. And when the Mai Tai you ordered arrives, it's served inside a Moai, adorned with an umbrella... well, you're in a Tiki Bar! Let's get to know this unique and influential culture, which started almost 100 years ago and recently revived.
A Brief History of Tiki Culture
Tiki Culture is an American movement related to art, decoration, music and entertainment taking its inspiration from various art forms found in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, such as Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia, while with the various influences were introduced over time
The Tiki aesthetic first began as a decorative element in bars and restaurants, with its origins traced to California in the 1930s. Essentially, it is a Hollywood look at the last "unexplored" corner of the planet, the South Pacific. Of course, this look is by definition simplistic, as it combines decorative elements from dozens of cultures and peoples, in an amalgam with a decorative character - in fact, at the height of the spread of Tiki Culture, it is characteristic that while the aesthetics referred to the South Pacific, the related cocktails but also the food served by the related shops were based (for reasons of convenience) on recipes and ingredients from the much closer Caribbean.
The very name of the movement is the name of the First Man in Maori mythology, while his wooden figurines are also described with the same word. The first restaurant to call itself 'Tiki Restaurant' opened with the end of Prohibition in California, serving Cuban rum, Chinese cuisine and featuring what later became known as 'Tiki Culture'.
The decline of Tiki culture came with the Second World War, when American soldiers, through their presence on the Pacific front, came into contact with the true culture of the region, dispelling the last romantic illusions.
The unexpected revival of the Tiki Movement
Although Tiki Culture has remained more associated with imaginative cocktails and exotic decor, Tiki has been a diverse "movement" that has influenced fashion, music, film and television, cartoons, and almost every aspect of pop culture. for years. As these forms of expression usually cycle, Tiki's comeback came in the late 90s.
While the Baby Boomers generation dismissed Tiki Culture as outdated, their children, fascinated by the Retro aesthetic and memorabilia of other eras, discovered a colorful world with great interest in Tiki decorations. In fact, the return of the Tiki culture found the movement itself more exonerated, with the element of fun emphasized, far from the colonial logic and cultural appropriation for which it had been accused. The Tiki of the 21st century knows that it is a charming "ahtarma", aiming for fun, color, and the revival of more romantic times, without the stereotypes that they carried.
The Tiki Revival, however, focused mostly on fun, with Tiki Bars springing up one after the other, old recipes for exotic cocktails coming out of obscurity, Tiki Parties raising the spirits and of course, Tiki glasses becoming rapturous. .
Tiki glasses: the easiest way to give an exotic air to our everyday life
Although Tiki glasses are perhaps the items most associated with the related culture, in the early stages of the movement they did not exist. It started with a few Californian Tiki Bars, which not only started serving their cocktails in fancy ceramic glasses, but also started letting their customers keep them, for an extra fee. Thus, Tiki Mugs became collectible and fanatical, and when it came time for a revival, they were back for good!
Typically, Tiki glasses are made of ceramic and can range from relatively small (for strong drinks) to quite large, suitable for long drinks. They come in bright colors and unusual shapes, while their themes vary: Moai from Easter Island, Polynesian deities, figurines from the Pacific Islands are combined with figures that seem to have jumped out of horror movies and with characters from the Far East. With a common denominator of exoticism and a grotesque feel, Tiki glasses are the easiest way to add a happy, exotic note to our everyday life.
Feggrini brings to Greece a series of the most imaginative Tiki Mugs in dozens of designs and colors to serve the most delicious, iced and exotic cocktails, transporting you and your guests to exotic beaches, tropical jungles or simply, to the welcoming bar of a beautiful tiki bar.
If you want to add color to the moments with your friends, treat them to a trip to... Polynesia. You won't need a cruise ship, just some original and beautiful Tiki glasses!
