No early retirement for Peter 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.
Peter Deneen at the Illinois Conference
It was a cool and sunny weekend here in Minnesota and we had a firing that took place. Today I photographed a few pictures of some of the handmade stoneware custom mugs that are just about to be shipped.
Custom Handmade Round Belly MugMy family has been working on integrating technology into the centuries old craft of wheel throwing since 1972. Today is the first day that we are falling into the 21st century by beginning a blog!
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!