Witco – Tiki and 60′s cool!

By mfmain • October 1, 2011

found on gulfcoastretro.com

The first time I heard about Witco was on a discussion on a Mid-Century Facebook group about Tiki art, the name that kept coming up was Witco, with a link to this post on a Tiki Fan board:

My name is Burke Hovde (aka…The Witco Kid on www.tikicentral.com). I’m the son of Ron Hovde, one of the Witco Co-Founders and Artists with Bill Westenhaver. I grew up with Witco everywhere. Witco wallhangings and furniture are all over my parents house and our family’s cabin. Witco started out as Western International Trading Company and imported South Pacific home furnishing items like Capishell Lamps. They also were into carvings that eventually evolved into the rough cedar chain saw carved furniture and Tikis that most people know Witco for. The artwork and production plant was in Mt. Vernon,

found on http://miahunamoku.blogspot.com

Washington and they eventually sold $15 million worth of Witco products throughout the world over a 10 year run in the 1970′s. Through my Ebay Storefront at “intertrader2005″ you can purchase a book on “Fun and Profitable Chainsaw Carving” that Ron Hovde and Bill Westenhaver published under their company Westho (i.e. Westenhaver/Hovde) after Witco shut down. If I can answer any other questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at hovdeinternational@hotmail.com

I couldn’t find whether they were Witco or not, but these definately remind me of the siamese cats in Pete’s apartment in Mad Men. If you’re looking to purchase some Witco, a quick search turned up some on Ebay at this store http://gulfcoastretro.com/default.aspx