Juan Culala Flores (June 24, 1900 – September 14, 1992), affectionately known as Apung Juan, was a Filipino wood carver. Flores was born and raised in Betis, Pampanga. As a youth, he grew bored of provincial life and spent several years in Manila, where he became a fairly successful artisan. Flores returned to Betis in 1922 and established his own workshop. Over the years, he employed and trained hundreds of locals. His influence is credited with transforming the fishing- and farming-reliant district into what is now the center of the woodworking, furniture, and religious art industries in Luzon. Flores worked on numerous projects throughout his life; starting out as a santero, he was the carver of the walls, doors and ceilings of Malacañang Palace's Kalayaan Hall.

Juan Culala Flores was born in Paglalabuan, a fishing village in Betis, Pampanga, on June 24, 1900. Betis was annexed into the younger municipality of Guagua in 1903. Paglalabuan lay on the banks of the Labuan River, its namesake, which leads to the Pasac River and eventually drains into Manila Bay. Its people were mainly reliant on fishing and boatmaking. As a boy, Flores went fishing with his father every day by the riverside, but it tended to bore him. His parents often had to spank him because he was molding figures out of mud while other boys his age were out fishing.

Not wanting to be a fisherman the rest of his life, Flores crossed the bay to Manila when he was 16. He found himself on R. Hidalgo Street in Quiapo. After trying out a few menial jobs, Flores befriended a local wood carver who taught him how to make figurines, and became an apprentice in the shop of the santero Maximo Vicente. He learned how to create santos and imahen, or statues of religious figures, and received recognition in the area for his craft. After becoming the shop foreman, Flores got to work alongside notable sculptors such as Isabelo Tampinco and Graciano Nepomuceno.

Flores returned to Betis in 1922. As a local who had achieved a degree of success in the capital, he was warmly received by his fellow townspeople. He also started his own taller—that is, a workshop or studio. Over the years, Flores employed hundreds of locals, even hiring young boys, and taught them the arts of wood carving and sculpting. He encouraged his protégés to start their own businesses, driving the growth of the lucrative woodworking trade in the fishing-reliant district, and even venture outside of Betis. His students included Vicente Manansala, a National Artist, and Allan Cosio, who later said that Flores' apprentices "came from as far as Zamboanga."