TeakCulture

How Our Teak Adventure Began...

Hi, I’m Barry, the head teakster.

And I have Mendy (the wife), Kaiya (the daughter) and Grizz’s (our IT guy who barks a lot) permission to say so.

I’m sorta like the Queen of England—just another pretty face with no real power.

Anyway, here's how Teak Culture got its start...

A close friend asked Mendy what to buy me for my birthday.

She said: he’ll love anything as long as it’s made of wood.

Which is no lie.

If you could look around my home office…

You'll see almost everything displayed is made of wood.

I have bowls, boxes, knickknacks and figurines made or carved from monkey pod, koa, cedar, wenge, maple, mahogany, oak, apple, avocado, poplar, walnut, bamboo, acacia…

And a large bowl I bought at a garage sale made of a wood I could never identify.

It had a dark tinge to it and felt kinda oily. But not overly so.

I figured the former owner had slathered it with Murphy’s Oil Soap for some odd reason.

So, I cleaned it.

Repeatedly.

But, it still felt kinda oily.

So, I sanded it, just lightly.

And it revealed beautiful shades of brown and gold.

Really quite attractive.

And its grains were interesting, too. Mostly straight and very close together.

But I couldn’t get rid of that oily feel.

Not that I was complaining. Just the opposite.

I kinda liked it. Warm and soothing.

Then one night, Grizz…

A dog who loves to chew wood (when he's not on my laptop) got hold of the bowl.

Now you'd think that’s the end of the story.

Well, it was definitely the end of that bowl.

However, months later, on a weekend getaway, we were at a hotel….

And in the bathroom, inside the shower…

Was a wood mat.

It had slats about two inches wide that ran the entire length of the mat.

And each slat was separated from the next one by a gap, maybe a half inch wide, so water could drain through.

Well, I gotta tell you, standing on that mat while showering felt like a vacation by itself.

The combination of the finely-sanded wood and the spacing of the slats was like having a foot massage.

It had a spa-like, beachy, tropical feel to it.

But here’s what was really interesting…

The wood, its color and its grain, looked just like the bowl Grizz destroyed.

And...

When it was dry…

It felt kinda—you guessed it—oily!

So, I asked at the front desk, what kinda wood was that shower mat made of...

TEAK!

And wouldn't you know it... the hotel was selling these teak mats to their guests (at a highly inflated price mind you).

Well, I bought one.

Long story made shorter... that teak mat brought me here, and to you.

So, that’s how Teak Culture got its start.

If you have any questions, we’re always here to answer them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Barry, Mendy, Kaiya & Grizz

Teak Culture