Meet the artist behind Eekum Bookum
St. Petersburg artists have found a niche in making ceramic mugs.
st.petersburg, florida – The St. Pete man’s passion for collecting tiki mugs has turned from a hobby into a serious business.
Twenty years ago, John Mulder and his wife Janet found a tiki mug in a thrift store and that was the beginning of his collection.
“I’ve always been a collector. I found a classic (Tiki) mug in a thrift store in the 1990s. I now have probably 1200 mugs in my collection.”
In the process of collecting Tiki mugs, Mulder, who spent 15 years in the Army and 7 years as a civil servant, decided to create a custom designed mug.
The idea for the mug is a mixture of Mulder’s fascination with Polynesian exotica and his appreciation of the people and places he meets on his business trips.
“I’ve been an artist all my life. I’ve been making art my whole life,” he said.
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He used his skills to start a Tiki mug business called Eekum Bookum.
John Mulder created Eekum Bookum after he started collecting Tiki mugs.
The idea for the mug is a mixture of Mulder’s fascination with Polynesian exotica and his appreciation of the people and places he meets on his business trips.
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“I consider myself fortunate to have started as a professional company in 2010,” Mulder admits. “It was just around the time that collecting tiki mugs was starting to make a comeback. Many of our customers are along the West Coast…we serve the bar and events industry.”
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Charley Belcher spent the morning with the artist behind Eekum Bookum TIki Mugs.
That means his mugs are only available in very limited quantities at the venues he has business contracts with.
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“We make mugs for three different bars in the Tampa Bay Area.
Eekum Bookum is a company that makes unique Tiki mugs.
His studio is located in St. Petersburg. Every mug starts with taking an idea and painting it to fit the theme of the event or venue.
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“50 cups a day, that’s our production target,” he said.
John Mulder has always been an artist, designing each and every mug,
Heading into the new year, business models are changing to create inventory to sell online.
Link: For more information on Eekum Bookum, please visit https://www.eekumbookum.com/.