TikiFarm
Holger Stewen’s tiki mug production house founded 2002, originally in San Diego, now also operating in Indonesia. TikiFarm is the volume side of the contemporary tiki mug industry—they produce the licensed mugs for many of the major restaurant chains (Trader Sam’s at Disney, others) plus their own catalog of designs. Accessible pricing, broad availability, lower per-mug cost than Munktiki or the artist studios.
The accessible end of the contemporary mug market.
TikiFarm is the contemporary tiki mug company that operates closest to the volume-production model of the vintage Orchids of Hawaii mass-market era. Holger Stewen founded the company in 2002 in San Diego with the bet that the tiki revival needed accessible mugs at accessible prices—the artist-studio scene was great, but the average tiki bar needed a thousand-mug order for ten bucks each, not a hundred-mug order for fifty bucks each.
What TikiFarm makes
The catalog covers two distinct streams:
- Licensed restaurant mugs—designs produced under license for specific establishments. The most famous: the Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar mugs at Disney’s Polynesian Resort and Disneyland Hotel. TikiFarm produces these, the bars sell them. Various other restaurant licenses across the US, including some major tiki bar chains.
- TikiFarm house catalog—their own ongoing designs sold direct. Hundreds of mug shapes, glazes, and themes; pricing typically $15–40 per mug, well below the Munktiki and Tiki Diablo tiers.
What you trade at this price
The artisanal feel of a hand-glazed Munktiki, the artist’s hand of a Tiki Diablo. The glazes are simpler. The slip-casting and finishing happens at scale, often in Indonesia. The mugs are functional, look right, and cost a third of what the boutique studios charge.
What TikiFarm is for: bulk pours. If a home bar wants matching mugs for a party of twelve—a coordinated set of Moai mugs for a Mai Tai night, say—TikiFarm at $20 each is the answer, not Munktiki at $50 each. For everyday use where the mug needs to survive a dishwasher and a dropped tray, TikiFarm holds up.
A note on cultural respect
The cultural-respect note from the Munktiki profile applies equally here: the imagery comes out of the imagined-Polynesia mid-century tradition; TikiFarm and Stewen operate inside that complicated history. The licensed Trader Sam’s series is part of Disney’s commercial Polynesian-imagined-leisure project. Worth knowing as you buy.
To go deeper
- Direct tikifarm.com for the house catalog.
- Licensed mugs Disney’s Polynesian Resort, Trader Sam’s at Disneyland Hotel, and other licensed venues sell the bar-themed pieces in person—the mug typically comes with the cocktail.
- Vintage / secondary Vintage Tiki Mugs Collection on eBay for retired or discontinued designs.
- Related entries Munktiki, Tiki Diablo, Vintage Orchids of Hawaii.