At the start of this year with all of the economic uncertainty we decided to head out to more bed and breakfast conferences in the hopes of attracting new customers. A few weeks back my dad attended the Illinois Innkeepers conference where he met many lovely people that had not heard of Deneen Pottery, and were unfamiliar with our hand made mugs.

Our booth usually takes the longest to set up and tear down as we have so many different styles and colors of handmade mugs that need to be displayed. This is where my dad feels the most confident, order pad in hand, discussing the benefits of using our handmade mugs to serve coffee to guests.

The 10-15 minutes that is used to tell stories about successful inns, can mark the beginning of a relationship that we hope to enter with a new customer…

Then the fun begins with choosing the right style of custom mug, the custom design that will be placed on the stoneware, and then the appropriate custom glaze color. We have 11 styles of custom mugs and 31 solid glazes and over 64 different marble glaze variations. This means for an order size of 100 mugs, where 2 styles can be selected with 4 different glaze options, the order can have 6270 different possibilities! While overwhelming in it’s size that is why my dad, Julie Longtin (our GM) or myself – Niles Deneen can help by giving suggestions that keep things simple.

Nothing makes any of us here at Deneen Pottery more pleased than going over the popular custom glaze colors, or stoneware mug styles that we customize for each order.

We’ve got another big show coming up next week – The Innkeepers Conference and Trade Show sponsored by PAII… The Professional Association of Innkeepers International. Hope to see you there!

Tides Inn by the Sea is bringing in a new color – Lt. Dijon w/Dijon White – Perfect to match their billing as “The Grand Yellow Lady of Goose Rocks Beach”. It will be fun to hear how this new glaze color on their custom mugs, goes over with thier guests this season.

Customers since the PAII conference of 2004, The Grape Arbor Inn has their 3rd order coming through… Round Belly Mugs in Hunter Green and Cranberry, with 5 new marble glazed mugs in Cranberry w/Blue White Tops

The Blue Goose Inn – Coopeville, WA is the next custom mug. This handmade mug is called the Flare Mug, it holds 10 ounces and is pictured in our Heritage blue. We are also 5 of these handmade mugs that are in a marble glaze: Heritage Blue w/Grey White Tops!

Sue Cunningham, the innkeeper wrote in a previous message: “In less than a year I am already placing a second order for your fabulous hand thrown mugs.  The guests at my B&B love being served their morning coffee in such a comfy warm mug, and because they love them so much -I’m nearly sold out!  I couldn’t be happier with the quality and the design, as well as the great friendly service from everyone there at Deneen Pottery.  Please tell everyone thanks for me, and send me more mugs!!  ”

The Dragon Run Inn – Church View, VA placed their 3rd order with us in January, for more Hunter Green Round Belly Mugs. Such detail in their Artwork!

I am so excited to announce the first of our newest customers from the Dude Rancher Conference that we attended in Tucson, AZ! The Burnt Well Guest Ranch has two different colors of their handmade round belly coffee mugs that are coming off the kiln today – Sand, and Rustic Brick. We are looking forward to having more mugs served to guests in settings like Roswell, NM!

We plan on announcing and reporting on our upcoming conferences, making note of the new customers that we meet and what colors and style mugs that are chosen. We will have a weekly or month kiln report which will show the different hand made stoneware items that are coming through production.

• Accent Item: Key fobs, bud and mini bud vases, magnets, ornaments, coasters and do-not-disturb signs.

• Tableware: Soup mugs and soup crocks, wine and champange coolers, small and medium crocks, latté mugs, and eco-friendly reusable menu boards.

• Tavernware: Tankards ranging in size from 16-20 ounces, hand thrown travel mugs, no smoking signs and hand made custom vases 6″-10″ tall.

• Pitchers: Ranging from the 2 ounce mini creamer, to a 2 quart water pitcher.

We have an almost inexhaustible range of glaze colors and finishes. A virtual rainbow of options that allow you to ‘feel like a kid in a candy store’ as you narrow your selection for each order. Many returning customers bring in a new color with each order to inspire their guests or customers to begin collecting our hand made stoneware. In fact in a recent conversation with an innkeeping customer, Lyn Guidry the of Maison D’ Memoire in Rayne, LA  said, “[Niles] suggested that I try two colors on my last order, and what a good idea that was! Now instead of just buying one [handmade stoneware] mug SO many of my guests buy 2, one of each color! What an excellent idea!”

Here is an example of one of our Customized Hand Made Mugs:

The Round Belly Mug - Photo by Paul Reiling

Lastly this blog will begin to build a collection of stories and testimonials about our mugs from our customers… Be they Innkeepers, College Bookstore managers, Dude Ranchers, Doctors, Dentists, Chiropractors, Contractors, Business Owners, Office Managers, Restauranteurs, Hedge Fund Managers, Auto Dealerships, or just friends of our family business. When we stop and think about all the people and places that we have made custom mugs for over the last 30+ years it’s no surprise that you can even find Hand Made pieces by Deneen Pottery on Ebay!

Thank you for reading our blog, we look forward to sharing more about our family business as time permits!