This started with an obsession in 2015 to find the perfect diner mug. (The kind you see in old school roadside cafes, that havent been improved on in a century). They earned the nickname hammer mugs because they are virtually indestructible you could literally drive a nail with them. This made them the go-to in every blue collar diner, where they could survive multiple drops from overworked waitresses and overtired truckers. Our search led us to a company thats been making them for since 1871. After an introduction by our friend @maxwastler the folks at Homer Laughlin China dug up their Green Bay Stripe paint color from the archives, and took the time to school us on the difference between traditional underglaze plus real hand pinstriping, versus the fast & cheap methods most employ today in the factories of China. Its not cheap. Or fast. Or easy. (As you can see in the BTS film). We might be crazy, but weve convinced ourselves that a swig of straight black coffee somehow tastes better out of one of these guys. (Try it when you visit us next - Some of you will think were just OCD, but some may get why we spent years obsessing on how to get this right. ).But, thanks in advance for refraining from driving nails with them were determined for them to last another 100 years, so we dont want to push our luck. Thank you, @hlc_dinnerware. Thank you for every last one of those hand glazed, finished, pinstriped plates, platters, bowls, cups & mugs. It helps makes us feel like weve just taken camp one step closer to what it must have felt like to have dinner at the Wandawega Hotel back in its glory days. Grateful to know there are still American companies like yours employing 4th generations artisans 140 years later, and thriving. Photos @davidtsay @nathanmichael