Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Scroggie. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michael, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I hope one day someone will smile or share a story about the person behind these carvings. Even the thought of something being passed on to a child who grew up with this carving in their home, the stories around them, a creative spark, a memory that makes them smile. That’s all I can hope for.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Palm trees have been my life. At a palm tree nursery 25 years ago we sold tikis, beautiful work. I loved and admired them sitting in the store front. I tried carving one, let’s say it was a tiki. Years pass and I spent half a year in Hawaii. I was blown away with the arts and carvings. Coming back to Florida I wanted to try my hand at it again. The business I’m in gave me unlimited access to the materials needed. Once again I tried, not much better but it was a tiki. I kept trying my hand at different tools and techniques. Looking for inspiration and photos of styles I liked. It definitely took some time and failures, cuts, scrapes and a bunch of what not to do’s. Eventually things started coming together. Friends and family wanted pieces. It got to a point where I might’ve had a few too many sitting around. That’s when it turned into a business. My partner was brilliant and from then on it’s been an amazing journey. I’ll always be a student of tiki and never have or will take a tree down for this purpose. New life for the trees we use.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

This tiki journey started as pure fun. It remains that way throughout most of my adventure. It was an afternoon hobby and love that turned into a small business. Where I once worked 5-6 days a week, turned into arts and farmers markets and time off from my regular job. With the business background my partner had turned this into a brand. Stickers, shirts, Amazon and travels. More time, more fun and tons of new friends around the world. I do believe the tiki community embraced us.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

This is an early story. We had been carving at the palm nursery one weekend. Spent the day having a fire paying no attention to our neighbors. Finishing the day as usual, locking up, heading home with a new tiki I made, proud of the progress in my art. Here’s the good part. I showed up the next morning, park my truck, step out and the kid living behind the store holds up a piece of wood. He carved a tiki! It was not bad, I’d say better than my first. He’d been watching us, seeing the pieces we’ve made and tried his hand at it. This was the moment I knew how much inspiration means. It inspired me. I hand out stickers to the little admirers at markets, my fans, future artists and maybe a tiki carver!

Contact Info:

• Website: Moku tiki.com
• Instagram: Showmeyourtikis
• Facebook: Mike Scroggie Jr

Image Credits

Moku tiki