CHAPTER 14: Four Eleven Pottery x RARE - Reworking the Clay
Collaborators: Four Eleven Pottery (Lindsay Marr), Sydney Taylor
Project: Windsor Skyline Handmade Stoneware Mug
It's been a long while since I've written something - so bear with me as I try to mould this into something resembling a blog post...
The concept of the design came about because I was really getting into doodly, minimalistic-y designs. In trying to leverage my newfound obsession, I thought how could I incorporate this into a design that celebrates our city? I started to think of recognizable symbols of Windsor (something I do way too often). Naturally, I gravitated to our waterfront. Then I thought, every time someone talks about our waterfront, you'll hear about how beautiful the Detroit skyline is. Although I entirely agree with this notion, what about us? Our skyline is pretty dope too, right? Someone get me Sydney Taylor, STAT!
Well those thoughts turned into this:
And we're hella proud of it too! Peep the little details of the Great Canadian Flag, the Peace Fountain and the reverse "R"s in AMBASSADOR" #devilsinthedetails
We've actually had this idea in the works for some time now. In fact, we targeted releasing this design for Christmas of 2019. We originally sourced a local potter to create these mugs for us. Because of scheduling issues and not wanting to rush the design, we pushed back the design to early 2020. Unfortunately, after some back and forth this person had to back out of the project due to some personal and scheduling issues. It was kinda shitty, but hey, no hard feelings. #ontothenextone
That lead us to come across the work of Lindsay Marr (of Four Eleven Pottery). When I checked out her page, I immediately knew that this is the person I wanted to do the mugs. You know when a vibe or style just fits with you? This was the case. So a few IG messages to Lindsay and away we went. Funny how you can work it out sometimes the clay gets out of shape...
Each one of these mugs was handmade with some elbow grease and a whole lot of love. In fact, Lindsay used an innovative process to burn the design directly into the glaze of the mug. This causes the design to be more permanent and prevents the design from wearing over time. They are definitely made to last. We produced only 50 of these beauties so they are extremely unique limited. Think of it as artwork for your coffee ;)
Now more than ever, it's important for us to support local. If you hadn't noticed there's this little COVID pandemic thing going around wreaking havoc on small businesses. A purchase of this mug pays homage to your city and supports up to 4 local businesses at the same time. #supportlocal