Traveling the Emerald Coast along US-98, you will find 100 continuous miles of some of the whitest sand beaches in the world. You will also find a little patch of tiki paradise.

Palm Tiki, my workshop and store, located between Santa Rosa Sound and Pensacola Bay on US-98, offers a taste of a disappearing life-style, one much less hurried than your own.

If you are in the area, be sure to swing by and look at my work.  My original, one-of-a-kind sculptures resonate with a primal, creative energy that captures the power and beauty of the ocean and the creatures that live in and around it.”

-Charlie Knight

Charlie Knight has had a long-term relationship with the ocean, surf and tiki culture. He began carving wood in the 70s and has been a full time wood sculptor since 1982. The son of a Navy Pilot, Charlie lived in all the great beach towns all over the country.

Most summers of his childhood were spent with his parents and six older sisters in his home town of Pensacola, catching mullet and blue crabs at the Beach when his family was between duty stations.

When his Dad retired they moved back to Pensacola for good and Charlie was became hooked on the surfing life. After high school, he moved around to Hawaii, Costa Rica and Mexico following the big waves, learning Spanish and carving wood.

A self taught artist, Charlie starts with chainsaw and uses tools as small as hand chisels to carve a variety of hard woods into life sized game fish, sea life vignettes, dolphins, water birds, mermaids, and other custom pieces.

Charlie’s exquisite pieces have been commissioned as décor for restaurants and hotels, have brought in tens of thousands of dollars for conservation efforts for the Billfish Foundation, and are in the homes and businesses all around the country.

Charlie always has several of his larger sculptures in progress at his studio located on Highway 98 in Gulf Breeze Florida. He and his wife, Nikki welcome visitors.