We often give Jean Elton pieces as Christmas gifts to friends and family. In this case, we gave a mug to our father/grandfather. Here is his succinct response:
You may be on to something great:Background:I drip excessively in drinking out of a cup.Your creation, the cup you sent me for Christmas with that significant lip, does not drip. I like it.
We are so glad you like it and happy to pass on your pleasure in our coffee mug!
I've always loved dinnerware and I especially enjoy setting a table and layering dishes. That's why I'm enjoying creating pieces that have a "layered mystery" about them... The question is... "how is how is that pieces layered and where does the rest of it go?" It's almost like each piece has a secret.
The Christmas season is over so you'd think we would finally be able to take a breath! Not so! Here at Jean Elton, we are already busily planning for 2011. First up this year is a special line of products celebrating Valentine's Day, to be showcased on our homepage starting January 15. Until then, our Christmas Clearance items will still be available, so take advantage of those amazing prices while you still can!So if you are curious about all we have going on in 2011, keep up with us on Facebook, where you'll see behind-the-scenes photos nearly every day! Additionally, you'll see our monthly Featured Items from their very beginning, long before they make it to our website. And we love to get your input, so don't be shy about sharing your opinion!
As you may or may not know, we use all our own dinnerware in our kitchen. In fact, I use it for display as much as I use it for serving food because they really can brighten up a room! This morning, however, when I went down to the kitchen for my usual morning cup of coffee, I realized they can brighten up a lot more than just a room! I opened my cabinet door that stores our mugs, and immediately found myself smiling. I was looking into a cabinet full of our mugs, but I always reach for one of the hand-painted ones. They just put a smile on my face and give me a cheerful start to the day! So that's when it occurred to me that I want to call them our "Happy Mugs". Much like we have a line of "Pass-It-On" Plates, our hand-painted mugs will now be our "Happy Mug" line. I hope they bring a smile to your face and a cheerful start to your day, just like they do for me.
You're Invited!
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Friday, November 19th - 10-6pmSaturday, November 20th - 10-6pmEmail here for location
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Presented by Jean Elton Studio and GalleryLois BarkerKathy SackettAmy Willers
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Hand Made OrnamentsSpecialty Table Top ItemsChristmas DinnerwareHand Painted GlasswareCandleholders with Holiday WreathsDecorated Wrought IronHandcrafted JewelryHoliday Sweets and Treats
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Sip some coffee or cider as youBrowse one of a kind beautifully designed piecesAs you check off your Christmas Gift List.
Janet Webster is the Business Manager at Jean Elton and has become an invaluable partner in the company. Her ideas and insight are important in all the business's decision-making.
Janet first became involved with Jean Elton after meeting Bill Barker (co-founder and owner) to discuss the purchase of another franchise. Though she did not go ahead with that purchase, she did decide she'd like to work with Bill on another project. "I have worked in finance, product management, consulting, and sales, and as we spoke about the different things he was involved in, the Jean Elton business (accompanied by iPhone pictures) sounded and looked compelling," says Janet. After meeting Lois Barker and becoming more involved in the business, she began to research and evaluate the new target market of customized dinnerware for brides. "I looked at primary and secondary market research. Lois and Bill liked the work, and offered me a role as Lois’ Business Manager. After working with Jean Elton’s senior management team over a six month period, we completed a strategic and operational audit, and selected a couple of organizational and infrastructure challenges to work on which we felt would impact our ability to grow. Shortly thereafter, we organized the mission statement workshop. Now Lois and I are reworking the wholesale distribution strategy, and have begun to explore new strategic alliances in the southern Connecticut and New York Metropolitan area.”
So what appealed to Janet about Jean Elton over some of the other projects that were presented to her? She fell in love with the dishes and home decor pieces! "I enjoy them both for their beauty and for their utility. I have often curled up with a mug of tea on a chilly day." She uses the hand-painted dinnerware and over time has added mugs, bowls, vases, and even a lamp to match! Janet just added the new teapot to her collection, and is “over the moon” about the design!
"The Jean Elton team are a great company asset; I am in awe of Lois' creative drive and the way she consistently moves product design forward! On a personal level, having worked in services businesses for most of my life, I appreciate the opportunity to get involved with a manufacturing entity.”
Wow, has our little studio been busy! Not only have we been steadily working on our project for the Bridgeport Rescue Mission, we've been getting ahead and working on Christmas projects as well!First of all, here's Lois working on the vases for the BRM. These vases were poured into slip molds, and then taken apart once the slip (a very wet clay) has dried and taken the shape of the mold. Then they are taken out of the mold and cleaned up, as Lois is doing here.
Next, we have been preparing for an upcoming corporate show hosted by our friends at Al-Lynn Sales. This includes pressing mugs, bowls, and plates, and impressing corporate names and logos into each piece.
As you can see by the picture above, we are also preparing for a large corporate Christmas order. As we create pieces for various orders, we try to make some for our Christmas home show as well.
In addition to plates and bowls for our Christmas home show, we are once again making ornaments! Remember all the ornament posts from last year? Well, we're doing it again! The picture below is an example of a personalized snowman ornament. It's only in its beginning stages, but once it's done, it sure will be cute!
And finally, we are making Christmas pendants, to go along with our new line of jewelry. There are snowmen, gingerbread men, hearts, bears, and crosses. But that's not all! We'll make sure to take more pictures as more and more of them are done.
