Each Chalk Talk Coffee Mug comes in a gift box along with a piece of chalk.
H10cm Diameter 8cm 12 Fl Oz capacity
At Konitz everything revolves around mugs! Konitz offers a wide assortment of coffee and tea mugs, as well as espresso, cappuccino and café-au-lait cups with flower, animal, artistic, modern and trendy decors. Konitz is constantly on the look-out for the newest and most "in" trends in the area of fashion, design, technology and living, in order to create new mugs. Headquartered in Germany, and founded by the Rosenthal family that created Rosenthal Porcelain, Konitz mugs and tea cups are in a category all by themselves. These Chalk Talk mugs are a great idea. You can write on them like a chalkboard and then erase when you are done. Fun for the whole family.
The first thing a consumer notices about Konitz mugs is the company's selection, Perusing the Konitz catalog, one is struck by the sheer array of designs, colors, shapes and sizes, all in the name of something to hold a warm beverage. It hasn't been an easy road for Konitz to become one of the top mug manufacturers in the world--but then again, true success is being able to weather the bumps, as Konitz has.
Konitz was established in 1909 with the purpose of producing porcelain for daily use. In the early 20th century, Konita products were sold primarily to the U.S. and England, according to president Turpin Rosenthal. Rosenthal is the grandson of legendary porcelain master Philip Rosenthal, who passed the company to Turpin in 1994, But the last nearly 90 years have seen Konitz go through a myriad of changes. In 1948, the company was taken over by the company "Sowjetische AG Keramische Werke Hermsdorf", and in 1953 Konitz mainly manufactured porcelain cups for export, While Russia was a main business
partner, Western capitalist countries were not welcome, In 1954 however, first contact to non-socialist countries was made, according to Rosenthal. Then in 1962, the company was merged into a private company, called "VEB Konitz-Kahla". The name Konitz was not used for the next 30 years.
After German reunification, Konitz was in state ownership, its first privatization together with Kahla failed when Kahla went bankrupt in 1993. Konitz was then split out of the group to be resold separately. This led to near disaster when in 1995 before restructuring, Konitz found itself almost bankrupt, The same year, the company acquired one of Germany's leading ceramic prints companies and founded Konitz Asia with the purpose of supplying the Asian and U.S. market from Asia with a European design and quality. Finally in 1996, Konitz became completely refocused on the tea and coffee market, becoming to this day Europe's largest supplier of mugs and related products.
Rosenthal feels his company has stayed in business when others did not survive German reunification because of strategy, "Several years ago, European porcelain and ceramic manufacturers passed a crossroad," he said. "Those with a very clear strategy resulting in doing something better than everyone else survived. Replying solely on a brand or being everything to everyone must be left to those who produce in Eastern Europe or Asia."
Rosenthal also decided many years back to focus on having the perfect assortment of products for tea and coffee people, By offering three lines, Rosenthal feels that Kontiz's success lies in the variety of products that they offer--not too focused, but not too broad.
The company produces three lines: 1) a selection of tea and coffee mugs with a broad range of designs; 2) CoffeeBar by Konitz, a collection of 11 different shapes of cusps and saucers designed to enhance the taste of espresso and coffee specialties; and 3) Basics by Konitz, a combination of fashion and table top.
"By offering these attractive lines, Konitz has weathered our industry's times and has become an important partner for people interested in cups and mugs," Rosenthal said.
Konitz's design selections are the product of a team of designers, who create collections that are inspired by new trends. "But we also buy licensees from artists like Tamara de Liempick and Keith Haring," said Rosenthal. "Of course we also commission artists rendering great designs and work with them on a freelance basis."
Sold worldwide in Europe, America, Canada and Asia, there is still an overall preference in style amongst customers.
"Mugs in bright, friendly colors or suiting customer's special requirements seem to be our best sellers," says Rosenthal. "The mug business is all about new designs."
When it comes to cup manufacturing, starting a new trend can help make the difference between your company being number one or being behind in the industry. Says Rosenthal: "Everybody has mugs at home. So (Konitz now has) CoffeeBar, which is a line that was designed (for) customers who are interested in drinking a truly good cup of coffee, while enhancing the taste to bring out the best of these coffees with zest."
So what does it truly take to be number one, besides being ahead of the trends, persevering through government regulations and lasting nearly a century? Rosenthal decided to share some business advice: always keep a lookout for new partnerships. "From our point of view, of course we are always looking for marketers for our product. Being an European/Asian supplier, we can offer all kinds of custom making abilities and a wide range of ready to go products. There are so many parts of the tea and coffee market that we do not cover well. We are looking for further partners who can help establish us more deeply. This constitutes a nice business opportunity with a reliable producer and service provider in the background," Rosenthal said.
What else does the future hold for Konitz? According to Rosenthal, expansion, expansion, expansion "We are currently expanding our activities in Asia, The Asian customers seem to enjoy the fact that a European company was set up there to supply them. We are therefore concentrating our efforts on establishing these markets and are trying to make Konitz known well in Asia," he said.
Expect to see Konitz around for decades to come--from the corner coffee shop in the U.S. to a large business in Asia.
