Building Created Co. has always been about more than mugs for me and Ryan. It’s been about spreading a message and igniting a movement around inspiration and empowerment. It’s been about connecting people both to themselves and to one another through the use of something used every day—coffee mugs.
In many ways, we remain the same. Our why hasn’t really changed, just our what and our how. In business speak, we’ve pivoted. We still have this dream of helping people connect with themselves and to one another. We still feel a need to inspire people in their daily routine. And we’ll still be giving back through our giving partner, charity: water. So, what’s different? Here a couple things you can expect to see:
Shifting from retail to specialty coffee
Over the last year, we’ve pivoted away from selling wholesale designs to retail. For a long time we were selling to places like Nordstrom, Chapters Indigo, and other amazing specialty retailers. You may still find our mugs in select retailers, but for the most part, we’ll be selling those items directly to you over the interwebs.
In the last few years, we’ve become heavily involved in the specialty coffee industry—where we’ve connected with many of you—and quite frankly, we’re obsessed! There’s no place we’d rather be and we‘re so excited to bring you all along on our journey further into the specialty coffee industry.
New products
Over the course of the last year, we’ve developed a whole new line of cups that are some the best in the world. (Bold? Yes. True? Also, yes.) They are a blend of art and science, as ceramics often are. They’re high-quality, hospitality-grade cups, created for high-volume cafes, hotels, and restaurants. They’re also beautiful enough to sit in your home. We’ve designed two collections of espresso, cappuccino, and latte cups for cafes, as well as several other drip coffee mugs that will blend seamlessly into a home or a coffee shop.
Art + mugs
We aren’t doing away with art and mugs entirely. In fact, we exist to empower the creators, as coffee often does, and we want to bring art and the artist into the forefront of the brand. You’ll continue to see many of the designs you’ve come to love on our new line of mugs. We’ll also be collaborating with more artists and giving them a voice through our platform. You can find an example of this in our new Jen Peters Collection.
Our logo
This logo mark is a representation of something new while paying respect to the past. Here are a few neat things we love about our new logo:
Cup and crest. History is important to all of us; it shows us where we come from, and the power of innovation in bringing us to the present. The logo’s crest honors the ancient art and science of ceramics; a craft passed down through generations all the way to us today. The cup is a nod to our own brand history, calling back to our roots when mugs began our journey as a business.
Dropping extra weight. Dropping "the" from our name, but keeping "Co."—to be simply Created Co.—allows us to simplify our brand moving forward, while retaining the suffix that honors many manufacturing greats that have come before us: Levi Strauss & Co., Hershey Co., Crane & Co., etc. We are proud to align with so many great names in history.
Our hashtag
Our social media community will notice a new hashtag on all our posts: #ForTheCreators. This may seem minuscule in comparison to all that I’ve listed above, but it’s important to mention. Hashtags are a way for a community to find each other, to engage in like-minded conversation, and to invite others into those conversations. These opportunities for connection are a big part of what we value as a brand. Over time, we’ve noticed that our community consists heavily of creators, from entrepreneurs to freelancers, youth leaders to bloggers, athletes to actors. We exist to empower these creators—as coffee often does.
Thank you so much to our amazing community for the support that we’ve received. It’s been a journey thus far, and we feel like we’re just getting started!
Keep Creating,
Jeremy Moss
Co-Founder