Baik Designs

Baik, which is pronounced “bike” and is the Indonesian word for “fine,” perfectly describes the class of furniture Ed and Linda Tseu consistently bring back to Honolulu. For over two decades, this husband-and-wife team has expertly hand-selected high quality furniture pieces and rare antique treasures from the equatorial island chain and imported them to Hawai‘i.

“We went to Indonesia for the first time in 1977 and we were just so inspired and awestruck by seeing the creativity there,” says Linda. “It was like nothing we had ever seen in Hawai‘i or anywhere else in the world. They carved everything; they painted everything; the most mundane items were transformed into works of art.”

The couple thought the Indonesian aesthetic was so pure and wonderful that they began traveling there every year and bringing back pieces for their home. They were also impressed by how well the Indonesians synthesized the outdoors into their living style. Linda knew it paralleled the way people tried to live in Hawai‘i, creating beautiful gardens and using natural elements. “After a while,” Linda recounts, “friends began asking, ‘Can you bring pieces home for us?’ and we decided to see if we could start a business.”

“The seventies was a time when Indonesia was being found,” adds Ed. “It was a period when a lot of hippies were coming from the west and they saw the old timers trading with the islanders. It was a mecca for handicrafts, fabrics, and textiles, but it wasn’t until later that the furniture became popular.”

During the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Ed says, they were saddened to see a lot of the old Kahala homes demolished, replaced by new California-style dwellings. “We decided we would try and help influence Hawai‘i homeowners to bring back the Island-style look,” he says.

So after 10 years and many trips to Indonesia, they opened up their first little place on Waimanu Street in 1987. Their first container shipments imported big elephant bamboo furniture, popular then in Bali, as well as ornate stone carvings for gardens. “It was so stunning because people had rattan here but they didn’t have anything like this,” says Linda.

In 1990 Baik Designs moved to their current location at the Gentry Pacific Design Center. Eventually, Ed and Linda progressed from importing bamboo pieces to importing old teak furniture, including pieces that had been in people’s homes for hundreds of years. But they decided against partnerships with large-scale manufacturers. “We never did that,” says Linda. “We formed a cadre of very close friends who all got involved with this at the same time -- young Indonesian men who learned the art of sanding and finishing and restoring things. Most of our things are original pieces. That’s what we specialize in and that’s what we’re known for, and it’s about bringing them back to life.”

About five years ago, the Tseus began exploring Thailand and Burma as well since they had seen a lot of nice, old teak pieces coming out of there. “We love teak and are intrigued by it,” says Linda. “We think it’s the most wonderful wood in the world. That’s why they’ve used it for yachts and sailing ships and park benches for centuries.”

The store gained considerable recognition when Mary Philpotts McGrath, one of the Islands’ foremost interior designers and author of Hawai`i, A Sense of Place: Island Interior Design, began incorporating Baik Design’s furniture into her projects. But perhaps the Tseu’s greatest exposure came when Kathy Merrill, another premier Hawai‘i designer, outfitted the W Honolulu’s lobby with some of the store’s most exotic pieces, creating a stunning Southeast Asian-themed space. Featured in Architectural Digest magazine, Merrill stated, “Baik Designs is my favorite resource for Indonesian furniture—period.”

After building a home on Bali four years ago, the couple’s schedule is now a month in Indonesia and a month in Hawai‘i. In March they opened a new Big Island store located on Luhia Street in Kona. While their son Chad and his wife Karen run the Honolulu store, daughter Cappy and her husband John manage the new Kona store. “One of the most enjoyable aspects of running this business is how our whole family has been involved,” says Linda. “ If it weren’t for their support this would all be very, very difficult, or impossible.”

Items at Baik Designs range from small home accent pieces for under $10 to larger furniture pieces like day beds, which cost between $1,800 and $5,000. The store also offers a selection of lighting products, stylish jewelry, museum-quality textiles, and one-of-a-kind artifacts, and it has recently begun showing paintings by local artists.

For 20-plus years, the Tseus have been enchanted by Indonesian culture, Balinese ceremonies, and Indonesia’s kind and spiritual people. They have succeeded in bringing to Hawai‘i that special Indonesian vision where art is a way of life. “When you come here you’ll see pieces that tell a story, that tell of what these people are all about,” says Ed. “You’ll look at a carving and say, ‘Hey, someone really spent some time on this,’ and it makes you feel good about it.”


Honolulu Store

Gentry Pacific Design Center
560 N. Nimitz Hwy No. 108 B
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96817
Tel/Fax: (808) 524-2290

Kona Store

Luhia Center II
74-5599 Luhia St. No. F4
Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i 96740
Tel/Fax: (808) 331-0601
www.baikdesigns.com