At SeashellSupply we don't always Tiki. We are into all things coastal and nautical. But when we do do the Tiki thing the thing we do is Tiki Bob. What is a Tiki Bob you ask?

What:

The easy answer is that Tiki Bob is a Tiki Mug. He’s got two little dots for eyes and a curved line that makes for a lazy and contented smile. This makes sense as he is usually full of strong mixed cocktails.

Tiki Bob is basic. He is simple. This makes him iconic and easy to recognize, but also easy to modify and parody. He is referred to as the “stuffed animal of the Tiki world”. But because he is simple he can be modified to fit hundreds of themes. Thus there are hip-hop, mobster, cubist, ironic, surrealist, multi-cultural, sci-fi and hundreds of other Tiki Bobs out there.

Tiki Bob is retro cool. Tiki Bob is nostalgic, connecting modern chic with a trend from the mid-twentieth century.

Tiki Bob is accessible and easy to like. He’s based on Polynesian wood carving and art, but he’s simplified. He’s more about escapism than hardcore Tiki authenticity.

Tiki Bob is enigmatic. His expression is unreadably positive. Is he confused and playing it off? Is he in on a secret joke only he understands? Is he smiling at us in warm hearted judgement? Is he spaced out and detached, smiling at his own inner thoughts? Is he dwelling on happy memories of the past or fantasizing about great times to come? Did Tiki Bob just fart? Some people even think he is creepy, a dead eyed zombie just staring at us with a disconnected smile.

A lot of people think Tiki Bob looks like an owl.

Tiki Bob is pretty much the only long standing internet meme that has a Tiki bent.

Who:

Tiki Bob was born in 1955 in San Francisco, CA at a bar called…. Tiki Bob’s. He was the brainchild of man named Bob Bryant, who had worked at the famous Trader Vic’s bar in Oakland and started his own bar in San Francisco.

Alec Yuill-Thornton designed the iconic mug to fit the bar’s simple, modern modest aesthetic in comparison to more glamorous Tiki bars of the era. It is a classic fog cutter style mug styled as a face cut into a palm trunk. Original Tiki Bobs from the bar of the same name are lighter in color than the glaze on Tiki Bobs sold and used in other locations.

Tiki Bobs are among some of the most enjoyable tchotchkes out there that some folks collect.

For more Tiki Bobs fun check out:

The original Tiki Bob’s Restaurant Menu

If you really want to go down a Tiki Mug rabbit hole check out The Search for Tiki, which is basically an online museum of Tiki Mugs.