Well, the response to that ad? It was good. And last week I began to do follow up calls to those that we sent mugs to. In the course of my calls I came across a property called Harpole’s Heartland Lodge, an Illinois hunting lodge / bed and breakfast located in serene Pike County.

I am a very visual person and one that likes to find connections… This connection hit me when looking at Harpole’s Heartland Lodge was one of a big buck. As I’ve been adopted by my in-laws into the traditions of white tail hunting in northern Minnesota, anytime I see a buck my thoughts turn to the season in which we wear blaze orange and sit quietly in the woods.

The second thing that hit me was that Harpole’s Heartland Lodge had an authenticity similar to one of our most successful Inns located in Gatlinburg, TN – Buckhorn Inn.

Besides the fact that one is a hunting lodge, and one is not, both properties are bed & breakfasts and I figured that Wanda, the owner of Harpole’s, might benefit from knowing a bit about Buckhorn. That’s when I picked up the phone and called Lee, the owner of Buckhorn.

“We love our mugs, – More importantly, our guests love our mugs,” was one of the very first things that Lee said. Since 2005 we have been making Footed Mugs in Hunter Green, at a rate of about 200-400 a year. Pictured below is one of the mugs as it is coming through production – The artwork for Buckhorn prominently features a majestic looking multi-point buck, one that any hunter would sure be proud to bring home.

The difficulty of bagging a big buck was kinda like the decision that Lee faced when trying to find the right mug for her property.  “[We] couldn’t find anything that looked as good as your mugs [with the] feeling that they’ll hold up,” Lee said.

“We thought the mugs were too expensive – You’ve got to be kidding, we’ll have to sell them for at least 16, and we thought that they wouldn’t sell.” But that all changed once that first order arrived…

“We’ve just been delighted and the sales have been fantastic – Sure some guests won’t buy them but we are probably selling 375 per year – That is a lot of money for no extra effort.” The secret is that you just serve coffee in the mugs, “you don’t have to build a room, people just have them at breakfast.”

Since we’ve been perfecting the craft of handmaking mugs for over 30 years, ensuring their durability is paramount. “[Deneen Pottery is] known in the industry – I have seen your mugs in some really nice places,” Lee mentioned.

Having a mug with your name on it can be a great marketing tool, but if that decal wears off, or the mug is easily broken, it will end up in the trash. Our mugs are made to be used, handle abuse and still look good! “We love them, and use them for serving morning coffee, we’ve only broken one as the mugs are sturdy, and most importantly they have a great look” Lee said.

Lee also said that she “likes dealing with a small company – We know you and you know us!” It’s been wonderful to have the opportunity to work with Lee over the years and we look forward to continuing that relationship in the years to come.

At the end of our conversation I suggest that Lee try a new glaze color on her next order… Be it known that there will be 20 Footed Mugs in a new color – Our Marble Hunter w/Blue White Top going to the Buckhorn Inn. If past performances are any indicator of future results, then we had better get another order of Marble glazed mug into production! I have a feeling the new color will be very popular this summer!

In closing I’ve pictured the home page of Harpole’s Heartland Lodge – As you can see the prominence of that buck is what sparked this blog. Hopefully the similarities that I see will be noticed by others… It’s never fun to extend trust and open yourself up to a new relationship, especially a business relationship in these economic times… Hopefully this blog will help ‘others’ know that with Deneen Pottery is worthy of that trust!

Thanks for reading our Pottery Blog!

Niles Deneen

By Lee Egerstrom
Economic Development Fellow
lee.egerstrom@mn2020.org

A company of artists in St. Paul is proving that making art objects can sustain a small business, that entrepreneurs can survive economic cycles, and that quality can still trump quantity in this age of big box stores and mass marketing.

Deneen Pottery is a family owned business that has endured various trials and tribulations since 1972. It makes hand-thrown stoneware products for institutional and business customers who want to exhibit glaze engraved logos, which result from a trademark protected process that Deneen master potters invented.

The biggest categories of Deneen’s 2,700 customers are hospitality industry companies such as bed and breakfasts, country inns and golf courses. Right behind are college bookstores, corporations that want promotional items for products or their corporate image, and restaurants. Renaissance festivals and community events that appeal to tourists who may be collectors is another important but smaller category, and Deneen has a small number of retailers as customers who specialize in merchandise for tourists.

Coffee and tea mugs are the largest selling pottery products. Each is an art piece, shaped and fired by 24 pairs of hands from clay and the potter’s wheel on through to packaging and shipping, and each is especially popular with collectors.

That became evident during the end-of-semester and holiday break season at Century College, the community college and technical school in White Bear Lake. Students were buying, returning and swapping textbooks in the Century College bookstore and picking up gifts for the holiday season that proudly showed the college’s logo.

Minnesota’s liberal arts and community colleges are special customers for the pottery works, said Peter Deneen, founder and president. About 30 of Deneen Pottery’s 200 academic customers are Minnesota college bookstores, he said, and most are private NCAA Division III schools or public community colleges.

“No licensing problems with big conferences,” he said. “The bookstores make their own purchasing decisions. This eliminates a lot of complications and paperwork.”

The University of St. Thomas has a special place in the Deneen family’s hearts, said both Peter and his son Niles, the vice president for marketing. In discussing an order for the St. Thomas Bookstore a few years back, [bookstore manager, Tony Erickson] alerted them to a scheduled tri-state trade show for college bookstores at a St. Paul hotel.

Northfield has become an important center for Deneen Pottery from such networking contacts. Both Carlton College and St. Olaf College are steady customers for high quality stoneware.

Century College is among institutional customers that learned about Deneen products from the bookstore fair, said Jill Hanson, who purchases for the bookstore. Most of the retail customers for the upscale mugs and ceramics are faculty and staff, she said. The make especially popular gift items for important visitors and guest speakers on campus.

Jeanine Riley at St. Thomas said the St. Paul campus bookstore has high-quality mugs and some vases on hand for visitors, faculty and staff shoppers. Students tend to buy less expensive mugs with “St. Thomas Mom” or similar logos, she said.

But parents, faculty and staff “go upscale,” either for themselves or for gifts, Riley added. “We see parents buying these when they brings their students to school, and homecoming is big with alumni sales and graduation is also good for sales.

“These are emotional items,” she said.

Information about Deneen products, the artistic processes involved, and a directory of upscale inns and bed and breakfasts where personalized mugs are sold as collectibles can be found at www.deneenpottery.com.

Minnesota 2020 promotes Minnesota made and sold products each year through the online Minnesota Gift Guide. Research shows that returns to the Minnesota and community economies are far greater from Minnesota made and sold products than derived from local markups of other non-local retail sales.

Deneen Pottery is a local manufacturer. What economists call “upstream,” “downstream” and value-added benefits from Deneen are more evident than at most retail establishments.

Key ingredients at a pottery factory involve clay. Deneen gets most of it clay supplies from two Twin Cities firms – Minnesota Clay in Edina and Continental Clay, Minneapolis. Packaging supplies are mostly local, and the community benefits from the 25 jobs this small business generates.

A base of Minnesota customers, such as the colleges and such companies as Pillsbury, General Mills and Land O’Lakes, benefit in various ways from the products sold or used for promotions.

Deneen Pottery started as Cloth & Clay Inc. in 1972. It moved to different sites in St. Paul over the years, filed for bankruptcy, had its assets sold to a holding company, and then came back as Deneen Pottery but in its original form in 1992 when the holding company shut down its operating unit.

Four former potters are now following their own dreams and have started pottery companies in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Local and state economic development professionals and policy makers would get mixed messages about how to help entrepreneurs like the Deneen family. The city of St. Paul helped with finding factory space and the federal Small Business Administration did help their company financially in an earlier form that didn’t succeed.

But the company is back, still in St. Paul, strictly operating on cash flow. Market growth of new customers has helped it weather the current recession despite 10 to 15 percent sales reductions at many of its repeat customers.

Looking back, Peter Deneen said the company has constantly confronted the two universal problems for entrepreneurs – access to capital and marketing plans. Without the latter, a company can’t handle the capital it does access, he said.

In the end, he added, what makes both problems manageable is having products that people want. That becomes apparent in the bookstores at Century College and St. Thomas.

John and Dawn have such a timeless and elegant B&B that is perched up on Laine Street overlooking the bay. The conference wasn’t the best as far as business goes, but our trip was… As we were able to visit Big Sur, Santa Cruz and San Francisco. The highlight was being able to look out the windows of the Mimsy Suite each morning at the Monterey Bay, and then come downstairs for breakfasts that were delicious, rich, and fresh! The coffee was amazing as well, and it didn’t hurt that it was served in such beautiful custom handmade mugs

The last morning of our trip we ran across the Golden Gate Bridge… A nice activity considering in Monnesota that day it was -15º. Luckily we have our kilns back here at the pottery that keeps us warm! There are some definite positives to growing up in a family that makes custom handmade stoneware!

Recently I was working with Sarah Stotts, from BedandBreakfast.com, on an article about my family’s Custom Pottery Mug business When she asked me for any new images of our handmade stoneware Jumping Rocks popped into my head. So I got on the phone and left a message for Matthew Lovette, Photographer, and Mark Smith, Photo Stylist, to give me a call. These two amazingly talented guys previously owned and operated a successful and nationally-recognized country inn, The Woolverton Inn in New Jersey before they founded Jumping Rocks Photography… Their pictures have been published and reproduced by countless publications and hospitality websites. You’ll find  them in Washingtonian Magazine, Philadelphia Magazine, Country Living, National Geographic Traveler, Forbes, among othersIt is not uncommon for our handmade mugs to ‘pop up’ in many of the distinguished properties that Jumping Rocks works with. Here are a few of the images that Matthew gave me permission to post online. I am pleased to share these images with you!

We are passionate about the work of our hands, and when photographed in the setting in which our handmade mugs are found – they look stunning! Visit these properties and enjoy the time you have, purchase a mug to remember that time… And every time you drink from that handmade coffee mug you will be able to recall the details you loved the most!

If you have a property or business that is in need of mugs just give us a call – we look forward to hearing from you! Toll Free 888-646-0238 or visit us online by clicking here!

Dear Niles:
Approximately 12 years ago, my wife and I were in Ithaca, NY and had the pleasure of spending a night at the Rose Inn.  In a matter of days, the two mugs we purchased became my favorite [handmade coffee mugs] of all time.  Unfortunately, one of them was broken beyond recognition.  I know that’s hard to believe since they are so sturdy.  Later, the handle was broken on the other one.  When I tried to contact the Rose Inn for replacements, I learned that a terrible fire had virtually destroyed that historic inn.  A couple of years later, we found out that the inn had been rebuilt and reopened by new owners.  I contacted them, but to my disappointment they did not preserve the “mug tradition.”  A couple of weeks ago, I was with a friend who was sipping coffee from a [handmade mug] with the identical shape but a different color.  She gave me the contact information for the Taylor House Inn in Valle Crucis, NC.  Their website included an on-line catalog where I saw the same shaped mug in red.  I was ecstatic and immediately placed an order for two of them.  To my chagrin, they sent me an e-mail stating that their stock was depleted, and that they did not know when to expect more.  The innkeepers (Tessa and Bernard Russo) were very kind to provide contact information for your company.

After navigating your website, I now realize that my favorite mugs from the Rose Inn were made by [Deneen Pottery] and were of the “round belly” style.  In fact, when I clicked on “glaze and colors,” and then clicked on “greens,” I see the forest green round belly mug WITH THE ROSE INN ART.

I know you are a distributor and don’t normally assist with small quantities.  But, I thought I would inquire anyway.  Do you know how I might obtain a small quantity ( from 2 to 8 ) round belly mugs?  Are you aware of an inn that has a well stocked gift shop?  Is there anyway I can order a small number directly from Deneen?

You don’t know how hard I have been trying to replace the broken mugs.  Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Vince Smith

Dear Vince,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us. I remembering hearing about that fire at the Rose Inn years ago, what a terrible loss that was.
Your tenacity at hunting down the round belly mug is commendable!

I think you like reading this… We do sell mugs directly to customers – and we can make them for you without medallions! The retail cost is $15.00 per mug plus ($10 for shipping up to 4 mugs) or ($15 when shipping 8 mugs). For 4 mugs you can have one color choice, but for 8 you can have two (4 per color choice).

Just let me know the total number and color and we’ll get your favorite HANDmade mugs back into your HANDS ASAP!
Niles Deneen – VP, Marketing

Deneen Pottery – 2325 Endicott Street – St. Paul, Minnesota – 55114
Toll Free: 888-646-0238 – Fax: 651-646-8605 – Local: 651-646-0238
www.deneenpottery.com

Dear Niles:
This is great news.  I’m sure we will be ordering some mugs, but I need to get my wife’s input before selecting the color.  Feel free to use my story on your blog.  Maybe it will help someone else who’s had a similar mug misfortune.

There is one part of my mug replacement saga that I left out in an effort to make a long story just a bit shorter.  In 2007 we were with friends in Scotland.  We ran across a potter who had mugs that reminded me of the round belly’s shape.  (See attached mug shot.)  I bought two of them even though they were overpriced.  Back in the States, we realized that both of them leaked to the point of being unusable.  In hind site, the fact that they leaked is probably a good thing.  Otherwise, I might have abandoned my search for the “real thing.”

You will be hearing from me soon about the quantity and color.
Vince Smith

Similar Styles... But not the same!