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From the street, Michael Souriolle’s home looks like every other place in his cookie-cutter neighborhood in Makakilo. That’s until you walk up the driveway and open the gate, revealing a lush scene of South Pacific splendor.
“My fence in the front makes my house look like all the others, but it’s an illusion,” Souriolle said. “After a long drive home on the H-1, it’s like coming home to Tahiti.”
Souriolle, 47, whose day job is working for a logistics company at Pearl Harbor, is a well-known tiki carver and artist who goes by the name Gecko. His ceramic tiki mugs are prized by collectors, and he is a regular at conventions and festivals that celebrate the “Polynesian pop” fad that swept America in the 1950s and ’60s.
His love for Polynesian culture is obvious in his resort-worthy front yard, whose centerpiece is an open-air pavilion that Souriolle constructed using posts and other materials salvaged from the famed Trader Vic’s restaurant in San Francisco and the old Hawaiian Hut at the Ala Moana Hotel. The posts have Tahitian and Marquesan carvings that he replicated in the structure’s beams and other woodwork.
Bamboo accents, woven-mat coverings, glass floats and clamshell planters complete the South Seas ambiance.
“Some people go to a hotel to escape,” he said. “We just go to the front yard.”
Souriolle, his wife, Ailie, 42, and their 7-year-old son Kainoa often enjoy dinner in the pavilion, which is equipped with a retractable movie screen. Tiki torches and strings of white lights bring an exotic glow to the setting.
“We put on all the lights and sometimes we lie on the grass and fall asleep out there. It’s really a nice family area,” he said.
The backyard is better explored in daylight.
“I like country-style living,” he said. “I keep bringing in more plants and try to make all of the houses around the neighborhood disappear.”
Tiki intermingle with a variety of palm trees, bromeliads, ferns, monstera, ginger, bird of paradise and ti plants.
Souriolle said he always loved plants and tropical foliage. He fondly recalls working in the garden with his mother as a child.
“She had lots of orchids stuck to the walls. We always had coconut husks around,” he said. “I definitely got my green thumb from her.”
A self-proclaimed “military brat,” Souriolle grew up in the Philippines and also lived in Hawaii, California and Tahiti. He said his love of art began as an 8-year-old watching his uncles in the Philippines carve rattan furniture.
Souriolle started South Sea Arts nearly 20 years ago when he began selling small carved tiki. His business has expanded to crafting Polynesian art, collectible tiki mugs and custom work at homes and businesses. His work can be seen at La Mariana on Sand Island Access Road, Teddy’s Bigger Burgers in Haleiwa and Tiki’s Grill & Bar in Waikiki.
“At first, I just made them for my own home and garden. But the tiki revival was happening at the same time. People started wanting them for their businesses, homes and tiki bars,” he said.
As a tiki artist, Souriolle carves mostly wood and ceramics, but he said he sees everything as a canvas.
“I carve anything that I can get my hands on,” he said, carrying an intricately carved surfboard. “When I’m in my studio, it takes me to an older time of Hawaii and Polynesia.”
His son Kainoa has already made a few ceramic carvings on his own, but Souriolle doesn’t know if he will find the same passion for the art.
“It was fun watching him make stuff but right now he’s more interested in video games and football. That’s fine because this is my passion,” he said.
For more information on South Sea Arts, call 277-3048 or visit southseaarts.com. Souriolle will be at the Haleiwa Arts Festival, July 15-16.
“Garden Party” spotlights Hawaii’s unique and exceptional gardens. Call 529-4808 or email features@staradvertiser.com.
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