I was in a Tiki Zoom meet-up the other day and this guy named Mattias joined the group. He’s chilling out in his tiki bar, which looks pretty awesome. I say hello and ask Mattias where he’s from, and he says Sweden. I asked him how the tiki scene is over there and he said that it’s pretty non-existent. There might not be much tiki going on in Sweden but that didn’t stop Mattias from creating his own home tiki bar. It all started with a 60’s rattan bar that he inherited from a relative …
What is the tiki scene like where you live?
Mattias- Living where I do it is pretty much a Tiki wasteland to be honest. There are real public tiki bars only in the capitals of the Nordic countries to my knowledge, i.e. in Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Oslo. So, to get the vibe I longed for, I built my own. I have often wondered why the Tiki and Polynesian pop culture passed Sweden by, since Swedes always have been so keen to embrace other aspects of American-born culture.
To find vintage tiki mugs in the wild here is pretty much impossible. You can find the occasional tiki statue brought home by some Swede that has traveled to Hawaii. Otherwise you have to improvise with decor. Fortunately giving your bar a naval touch is not too hard since Sweden is a really sea loving people with an amazing number of private boats per capita. Getting really old boat stuff, flotsam and jetsam is no problem in Sweden.
Some of us Scandinavian Tiki aficionados are also trying to build an online Nordic Tiki community through Facebook. This will hopefully make it easier to arrange “IRL tiki-events” when all gets back to normal.
We do have at least one active Swedish tiki-mug maker that I know of: “Sailor Lars” that makes great mugs, and of course we are proud of the very genuine Exotica-musicians in the band “Ixtahuele” from Gothenburg.
What brought you into the ‘Tiki lifestyle” and how long has it been part of your life?
Mattias- I actually cannot remember what the absolute first spark was any longer, but to be honest I think it was a combination of fortunate events that made me realize that many things that I had loved for so long could actually be combined into one concept. I have loved to wear aloha shirts for as long as I can remember and it has usually been my “go to attire” for dressing up. I have enjoyed rum and cocktails for years. I have been collecting and listening to music that falls into the exotica genre. I started reading about Tiki and Polynesian pop online, got myself a couple of Sven Kirsten’s books, bought some mugs online and it just took off from there.
Can you give a little history of how it all came together?
Mattias- Some five to seven years ago, and really unrelated to tiki, I had decided to build myself sort of a “man cave” for all my collected stuff, memorabilia, vintage hi-fi equipment and records and whatnot. Pretty soon it was clear to me that I could incorporate a lot of that into a tiki bar. I had inherited a rattan bar from the 60’s from a relative who had it in his home where I had spent a lot of time during my summers growing up. I remember the bar as “a center of gravity” for much of his social life. There were so many exciting things in and around it for me to look at when I was sitting high up on the barstools as a little kid. So naturally this bar became the “pièce de résistance” of my bar. Now I have added a new glass-top over sand, memorabilia, and lighting effects under the glass. I love to build things and one of the home-made things I enjoy most is my “lazy Susan” type rotating rum shelf. It saves space in my tiny bar and displays the rum selection to guests in a nice way.
Apart from the tiki theme, a part of my bar is also dedicated to the German bandleader “Frank Valdor”. I have collected a substantial amount of his records and have many old open-reel studio recordings to play for my guests. All over my bar you can find some of his old personal items like musical instruments, glassware, photos and memorabilia. Things that have been given to me by good friends, and now make up part of a heritage that I am a caretaker of. A funny thing is that Sven Kirsten’s father, Harald Kirsten, was the managing director of a German record company that released a lot of Frank Valdor’s albums in the 60’s and 70’s. So, there is a Tiki-Valdor connection even outside my bar!
What is your favorite Tiki drink? Why?
Mattias- I am quite easy to please so I usually enjoy whatever is put in front of me. I always get a Navy Grog if available and really, I’m glad if I get it with a proper ice-cone. And I’m not known to be afraid of Zombies!
What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own!
Mattias- I have not been to anywhere near as many as I would have liked to, so maybe I haven’t found it yet? But so far, my top three would be “Smugglers Cove” SF, an awesome place in every aspect, ”The Tiki Room” Stockholm, nice drinks and a very friendly atmosphere, and third is “Matiki” in Wienna, they also have very welcoming bartenders and are very serious about their drink making.
Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment?
Mattias- Lights of course. It is amazing how many lights you can play around with while still keeping it dark. Sound, both the exotica music. of course. but also the ambient sounds. I have a parallel hidden sound system in my bar that plays the sound of waves, creaking wooden ships and jungle birds. The speakers are hidden in coconuts hanging from the ceiling and there is a subwoofer behind the bar. Smell is not to be forgotten! The scent of orchids blooming really lets your mind travel.
I love for many of the things in my bar to carry a history. It’s great fun to tell visitors about where things are from and how and why they ended up in my bar.
What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?
Mattias- It is constantly evolving and I do not want it to be finished ever! This summer I will be working on an outside project. In my backyard, I have another bar that so far is more just practical, but I am hoping to be able to have some decorations there to “tikify” it on special occasions. And since the pandemic is keeping me, as well as everybody, at home a lot, I have decided to take up tiki carving this year. I have got some nice logs waiting for me in the backyard.
Looking at a 5-10 year horizon maybe I’ll expand the indoor bar to an adjacent room, and get a proper wet section to the bar, that would be great.
Anything else you would like to add?
Mattias-Talking about the pandemic, that is awful and saddening in so many ways, it has actually had a silver lining for me personally. Being here on a remote outpost of the tiki-world, the pandemic has inspired people to meet more online, and then distance is not an issue. I have met a lot of people, including you Ray, at online events that have replaced physical ones that I would not have been able to attend. The only remaining problem is the time zone difference. When you guys in the USA enjoy your Friday evening, for me it is crazy early Saturday morning. But I guess at this time into the pandemic we have all figured out what rum goes best with our breakfast cereal!
