Developing a mission statement for a company that has been in business for over 30 years is quite a challenge! But that's just what we have done in the past several months. Here is an overview of our process and the mission statement with which we ended up.

What is a mission statement? We reviewed the definition of a mission statement to make sure that everyone involved knew what we were looking for. Thanks to BusinessDictionary.com, we know that a mission statemtent is a "Written declaration of a firm's core purpose and focus which normally remain unchanged, whereas business strategies and practices may frequently be altered to adapt to the changing circumstances."
Brainstorming. Next, we had a brainstorming meeting and invited people who had been involved in Jean Elton at one time or another throughout the years. During that meeting, we examined various mission statements from companies similar to ours in size and industry. Then everyone took some time to list words and phrases that they thought described Jean Elton and were central to its purpose. Next, we answered some essential questions about Jean Elton. Some examples include, "What need does the company fulfill?" and "How do we differ from our competitors and what is our competitive advantage?". And finally, everyone put together a mission statement using various descriptive words and answering the most important questions.
Party. After the brainstorming meeting, we had a dinner party for more people that played some sort of role at Jean Elton, plus the people from the original brainstoming meeting. In this way, we could gain some new insight on our original ideas and discuss further descriptive words and phrases.
A Collaboration. After the meeting and party, we took all of the most important ideas and merged them into one cohesive statement. This took on many forms before we finally settled on the statement below. We hope that it makes it clear who we are and what we are about.

Jean Elton Studio & Gallery is a stoneware pottery company committed to creating functional and decorative dinnerware and home decor from our studio in Fairfield County, CT. The ceramic products in our ever-evolving product line fuse artistic design and practical durability. Our custom work celebrates the collaboration of artist and client on a journey to inspire and delight, and to create one-of-a kind objects pleasing to the eye and to the touch.