Robert Redford’s Sundance Catalog Co. ordered 3,000 jewelry dishes similar to this floral style that Karen Guethlein designed and are sold in Anthropologie stores. Within a week after the dishes were added to the Sundance inventory, the company placed a second order with the Trion, Ga., potter for 1,500 more of the handmade, handpainted dishes.Where to buy
› Anthropologie stores› www.sundancecatalog.com, Item No. 72956, Flower Sprig Initial Dish
Karen Guethlein was ecstatic when Sundance company – yes, that Sundance founded by actor Robert Redford – ordered 3,000 of her handmade clay jewelry dishes for its spring catalog.
There was just one catch: The potter had 11 weeks to fill the order. And since each dish required a minimum of three days to complete the multistep process, “it was fast and furious,” the Trion, Ga., artist says, laughing.
“The last two weeks, that’s all I did for 14 straight days. My entire family ended up being a part of this – my three grown children were picking up supplies. My three little ones at home were weighing out 2-ounce clay balls. My mother-in-law came down and pretty much just moved in and helped me. My husband, Lin, loaded boxes that he took to meet the freight trucks at the curb because they couldn’t get up our driveway.”
Two days after the spring catalog went into circulation, Guethlein got an email from Sundance, telling her the dishes were such a hit – No. 3 seller overall of all items in the catalog – they needed 1,500 more. And they needed to be shipped by May 23.
So Guethlein was back at work, refilling stock within a week after the 3,000-dish order had been received by Sundance. Each 3-inch circular dish features a petite, handpainted floral design with a single initial for personalization. The dishes sell in the Sundance catalog for $20 apiece.
“They are now in the Sundance catalog and six brick-and-mortar Sundance stores out West,” Guethlein explains. “The stores specifically requested the dishes because they had customers asking for them after seeing them in the catalogs.”
Michele Leitner, inventory planner for the jewelry catalog of Sundance, says, “They are certainly selling well and make a fantastic gift.”
The catalog was founded by Redford in 1989, a result of the popularity of the unique artisanal wares sold in the Sundance Village general store, according to the catalog’s website. The village is part of the internationally known arts community that sits on land purchased by Redford in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains in the late 1960s. The catalog and store support and promote the work of American craftspeople.
Guethlein’s pottery first gained recognition in November 2014 when her original monogram dishes were picked up by Anthropologie, which has 216 stores worldwide. Her debut in Anthropologie coincided with the opening of its store in Chattanooga’s Warehouse Row.
At the time, she was a cottage industry, selling 3-inch personalized dishes on Etsy under the name The Brick Kiln. Guethlein is a self-taught artist who learned pottery by watching YouTube videos, and she fired her work in a 50-year-old kiln given to her by her mother-in-law.
It was through Anthropologie that Sundance discovered her last November. A Sundance representative contacted Guethlein through her Etsy site, asking if she would be willing to sell wholesale. The company asked for samples and she sent a half-dozen designs, one being the initial dish she created.
They responded by asking her to send two A-to-Z sets of initial dishes, which they planned to name “Flower Sprig Initial Dishes” in the catalog. She mailed two sets; they passed quality control, and each was photographed individually before receiving final approval.
The first purchase order was placed Jan. 15 and had to be shipped by the end of March. She’s currently filling the second and says a third order was just approved last week by Sundance for its fall catalog.
The Sundance success gave the potter courage to approach Ree Drummond, the Food Network’s Pioneer Woman.
Guethlein read a Facebook post by Drummond, asking viewers what they thought about her new mercantile and what they thought should be stocked in it. Fans of Drummond’s blog know that she and her husband purchased and gutted a 25,000-square-foot, dilapidated building in their town of Pawhuska, Okla., and are renovating it to open in August as a deli and mercantile store.
“I was scrolling down, reading responses, and every comment was ‘Handmade’ or ‘Made in the U.S., not China.’ And I thought, ‘Well, that’s what I do,'” Guethlein says.
So she emailed Drummond and attached photos of her dishes.
“She wrote back that night, and her first word was ‘SWOON!'”. Guethlein says. “She said she loved the dishes and definitely wanted to order them for the mercantile. She has picked 25 different designs, and we’ve worked on a lot of custom things she wanted specifically for her store.”
She estimates she and Drummond have exchanged 50 or more emails as she works directly with the TV celebrity to custom design her dishes. Drummond has ordered 1,200 dishes to be shipped by July 1 in time for the store’s grand opening in August.
“I know it was the Lord that led me to Ree Drummond,” says Guethlein. “I have no doubt in my mind about that. I can’t even imagine how many emails she must get, but she wrote me right back herself. I just find that a miracle.”
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.