And that true story is told by Joshua and it goes like this:

“Just as we were unpacking your delicious shipment at the front counter (we call it the ‘front counter’ but it’s by the back door), our friend Philip (long-time customer) came in to buy Christmas gifts for his (prodigous) family.  He was immediately entranced by the mugs, and selected 8 as stocking-stuffers.”

So the very first day that EIGHTH day books had their mugs, they sold EIGHT… How Cool!

Eighth Day books first opened in September of 1988 and is far from being a super chain, “we’re selective, offering an eccentric community of books based on this principle: If a book – be it literary, scientific, historical, or theological – sheds light on ultimate questions in an excellent way, then it’s a worthy candidate for our catalog” said Warren.

This catalog of books was the connection that brought our handmade mugs into Warren’s sights, as they supply another customer of Deneen Pottery called Agia Sophia in Colorado Springs, CO. On a past trip to Agia Sophia Warren noticed their display of mugs and bought one to bring back to Wichita. “We’ve had mugs before, years ago, and were looking for someone to do a new series.” With our handmade quality Warren said that “[Deneen Pottery] perfectly fit he bill.”

From a independent coffee shop in Colorado, to an amazing book shop in Kansas – We appreciate the small connections that bring stories like this to our family business.

Thank you for reading our blog.

Niles

P.s. I thought it best to return to that quote that I first found as Warren so kindly explained where it cam from. “St. Justin Martyr in his Second Apology (paraphrased a bit): that which is true, is ours.”

Hell’s Backbone Grill is located in Boulder, Utah, population 180 – one of the most remote towns in the United States! The chef-owners, Jen Castle and Blake Spalding operate their restaurant following Buddhist principles, with a commitment to sustainability, environmental ethics, and social and community responsibility. They serve organic, locally produced, regionally and seasonally appropriate cusine and grow many of their own vegetables organically in the restaurants two gardens and on their six-acre farm! They feature dishes made with fruit from Boulder’s heirloom orchards and rely largely on local ranchers for the natural meats. Every cup of coffee is served in a handmade mug, by (you guessed it) Deneen Pottery!

Now in their 9th season, their mission and passion has not gone unrecognized.

Hell’s Backbone Grill enjoys one of the highest Zagat ratings in Utah and was selected as a Fodor’s Choice 2006 recipient. The restaurant was also named Salt Lake Magazine’s “Best Restaurant in Southern Utah” for 2007 and was awarded the prestigious Utah Governor’s Mansion Award for Culinary Artistry in 2006, presented by Governor Jon Huntsman. In 2005, Blake and Jen received an award from the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Center for Sustainable Environments for being “Culture Bearers of Sustainability in the Four Corners Region.” Additionally, Hell’s Backbone Grill was chosen as one of four restaurants representing Utah’s Slow Food movement in an exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. The restaurant has been featured in O, the Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, Sunset Magazine, Bon Appetit, Organic Gardening, Outside Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Washington Post, Men’s Journal, and National Geographic Traveler.

Last week as we were just about to send out their latest order I had the chance to talk to Maggie McGuire, the Retail Manager… I was curious to find out more about how our mugs were working for Hell’s Backbone Grill. Maggie suggested I email her a few questions. A few days later I recieved an email from Jen Castle – a big fan of our handthrown mugs – with answers to all of my questions. I thought it would be best to post those questions and answers here.

Q.) What do you like best about your mugs?
A.) They are wildly durable and incredibly gorgeous. Each time I order a different combination of the many shapes and amazing color glazes. The combinations are limitless, Julie and the potters are so patient with my requests and it makes our mugs really collectible. Sometimes I’ll bring an old combo back for kicks, sometimes I’ll find an unstoppable seller that we can’t keep in stock. When a customer orders decaf in the morning, I’ll give them a green mug as a code to myself for easy refilling without having to ask which one they’re drinking.

Q.) Don’t you worry about theft or breakage?
A.) They are practically unbreakable. Sometimes we have a couple broken in transit, but not often (and not this time!). Even dropping them doesn’t hurt them! They bounce and we’re always stunned to see nary a blemish. We wash them in our dish machine where they rattle around, we carry many in one hand dangerously, it’s hard to damage them. I don’t worry about theft– our customers are here to support our small business and are stoked to find that we’re selling these beautiful handmade mugs… if one gets out into the world because someone is a thief(!) it’s still out there with our name on it, advertising our place, and when someone turns it upside down, they see the stamp telling where it was made. The name is still getting play.

And I have to trust that the universe will take care of the bad element. If they need it THAT badly… they can have it. Because really, so many people want to exchange money for art. I trust that those folks will make the stronger showing.

Q.) Do you do anything specific to prevent them from walking away with your patrons?
benefit of the doubt, good faith… electric cattle prod… Really, the uniqueness of the mug is a bit of a deterrent– our dining room is small and our staff keep and open eye and an open heart and interact so much with the customers so they’d notice one of the two mugs missing from the table. They create connections with the customer– most people want to steal from strangers, not from someone invested in their good experience.

We have a beautiful dining room and we want things to be *nice* — the mugs are so gorgeous and add a lot to the experience. The benefits of the satisfying cuppa, the unbreakability factor and the handmade by our talented friends factor all outweigh the sad possibility of losing them to an unenlightened being.

Q.) What do you sell them for?
$18. Maybe too cheap? Or maybe the right price for no stealing.

“We’ve used Deneen mugs for 9 seasons and they have been beautiful, popular, and durable!”

Thanks, Niles. I really love your products.
Jen Castle
Hell’s Backbone Grill
Boulder UT

When you have the opportunity to share in the joys of life, with those who find joy in their work – making a living brings you a life that is bigger than just yourself! Thanks Jen for taking the time to write back and for helping to support my family’s pottery company.

Niles Deneen

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!