Costa Mesa, California-based firm Davis Ink has revealed its colorful new design for tiki bar and eatery, the Grass Skirt, in San Diego. The space honors the tiki principles of ritual, presentation, and preparation with mixology taking center stage. The design team worked closely with bartending staff to ensure the space catered to the process.
“We wanted to create an authentic tiki environment in a contemporary way,” says Davis Krumins, president of Davis Ink. “We incorporated a fine balance between authentic tiki and progressive 2016 design by taking classic materials, artifacts, and lighting, and then reconfiguring them into completely new ‘never have been seen before’ ways.”
Orange and red rectangular tiles have been installed on the back bar wall in a vertical brick pattern to flank a central bottle display crafted from black lava rock. Sixteen gold-plated pineapple head skulls inside custom front lit wood frames have been arranged in a grid on the back bar wall. Split bamboo seams have also been manipulated to form a diamond pattern wall feature. A 23-foot-tall tiki houses VIP seating inside its mouth.
New technology has been installed to achieve a series of eye-catching features such as a 15-foot-tall tiki god fire display and a 28-foot-wide backlit acrylic wall that features an erupting volcano, a topless hula girl, and a Hawaiian sunset. Guests enter thought a secret refrigerator door located inside the kitchen of an adjoining poke restaurant. Once the door is opened, fog is released within a lava rock tunnel.
