The Journey of our Stackable Vietnamese Ceramic Mugs from Vietnam to Brooklyn
Our new Stackable Vietnamese Ceramic Mugs have finally arrived after more than a year in the making! These mugs are handcrafted by Vietnamese women artisans in the famed village of Bát Tràng, Vietnam.
Bát Tràng is an old, established village within the capital of Hà Nội and best known for producing beautiful ceramics. We were intentional about working with local Vietnamese communities for social, cultural, and economic empowerment.
See the journey of these custom designed mugs from start to finish below!
Our Stackable Vietnamese Ceramic Mugs were custom molded to hold 7 ounces of liquids, enough for phin drip coffee, lattes, and cappuccinos. Most mugs produced in Bát Tràng are smaller in volume due to typical beverage styles consumed in Vietnam.
Our mugs were handcrafted and individually polished for the artwork to be applied!
After we worked out the mold for the mugs, we worked with our producers to design a handle that could fit two fingers. Most mugs produced in Bát Tràng have handles large enough for one finger, so we enlarged ours!
With the blank design finished, we worked with our local artisans to apply each layer of artwork by hand. Our mug set has 4 unique designs featuring our Nguyening Trio (Phin the Filter, Sweetie the Condensed Milk, and Robusta the Bean) as well as our signature floral print with our classic logo.
In addition to customizing the mugs, we worked with a local box maker in the same village of Bát Tràng to produce a custom box to hold our mugs. The interior silk-like fabric is an homage to traditional tea sets.
Our logo was applied to the box by hand, and the entire box is secured with a little magnet!
Once the ceramic mug sets were boxed, they were ready to be packed and shipped! Our local artisans in Vietnam were not very familiar with making large orders for international shipment, so we worked closely with them to help them through this process.
It's our mission to work with and empower local communities as much as possible. So if you find a scratch on your box, please be kind. Behind the global supply chain are everyday, hard-working people.
Our local artisans packed the boxes tightly in wooden crates that were individually handbuilt in order to secure these mug sets and allow for easier handling. Hours of labor and love went into creating these ceramic mugs and getting them shipped around the world!
Our very small operation was supported by the village power of Bát Tràng. Because there are no electric forklift trucks, our producers were not able to stack the boxes on a pallet. The hand-built wooden crates were carefully lifted into trucks that were sent to sea port.
The crates containing our mug box sets traveled on a ship from Vietnam to the U.S. Their journey at sea was roughly 45 days.
Once the shipment arrived at port, they were transferred onto trucks and delivered to our HQ in Brooklyn! From here, we used all the tools required to unlock these wooden cages and prepare to ship them out to YOU.
Now, these Stackable Vietnamese Ceramic Mugs are ready to be cherished and enjoyed in your home! Due to the hyperlocal nature and scale of this collaboration, we were only able to create 250 sets.
Since these took over a year to produce and with ongoing global freight issues, we don't know when we'll be able to get more of these. We hope you enjoyed seeing the journey of our ceramic mugs from start to finish, and hope you’ll enjoy them more when they’re yours!
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