Danny D's Mud Shop Mid June Newsletter

By Daniel DooreckJune 10, 2024

Japan is a cool place

I sit up in my kitchen stricken from jet lag at 2:30 am writing this newsletter. I am overcome with that realization where you've experienced so much in a short period of time, now it's almost too difficult to distill all of these moments and present them in a concise way. If I was really good at my job, I would've ideally been sending newsletters throughout my trip in Japan. I attempted to be good at my job, so I brought my laptop across the world for this very reason. But long story short it lay dead for weeks as I couldn't find a US adaptor for my life to charge it. I think secretly I wanted to disconnect and forget the newsletters (sorry).

I sort of kept this whole thing a secret for a while. But we were preparing for this event for over 5 months. Almost two years ago, very early on in my journey with ceramics, a lady named Aya emailed proposing a studio visit and possibility for a popup. The email was in perfect English, but presented very Japanese, and it was so exciting to see, especially so early on. If you are reading this Aya, I nearly didn't reply because I thought the idea of a Japanese popup was so improbably, at least at that stage of my business. That first email led to almost four studio visits (she lives in Kamakura, Japan - it's a long flight). Each studio visit Aya would drop off fancy Japanese incense along with tasty rice crackers, and I still burn these daily. It's interesting, as I suppose when you're a craftsman just trying to make things work, and have so much on your plate each day, possibilities of these growth opportunities just skip by. People like Aya-san who specialize in finding artists and recognize potential are so important, and i'm forever grateful.

So we planned for 9 days of popup time in Tokyo. Come January, we started developing our plan for the show. I drew up a list of about 250 + pieces to be made for this event. In terms of my production, this quantity is a huge amount of work for me. We also tried to strategize what would be popular over in Tokyo, and decided that characters like Snoopy and my Felix cups would be best. Truthfully, the entire project was risky. We were spending tremendous amounts of labor, energy and money to send overseas to a market that I knew had some interest but really no true way of knowing. What would happen if nothing sold? Do we ship it all back? One week before heading to Japan we basically shipped a palate over. 12 massive boxes. Packing and then subsequently unpacking your own work in a different country is a surreal experience. One, it's stressful - I usually only see one side of the process. During the set up day at Paddlers with Dai (the owner), it was like we were opening up mini time capsules from January. And the best part was that everything was intact, especially the two lamps we brought. I also forgot US adaptors for these too lol.

The popup started the day after, and we lasted about 4 days out of 9. The first day we sold over 60% of inventory. Japan is a cool place in that people from so many countries visit at any given time. I had no idea how international my following was, and am so proud to say my pieces landed in the hands of people from countries like Austria, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Philippines. Places where even when I charge 50$ flat fee shipping, I still lose 10-20$, so it was an amazing opportunity to extend my reach to clients that would otherwise not be able to order reasonably.

Japanese ceramics are so identifiable, and ingrained in the culture so heavily. People in the country believe in craftsmanship, and simplicity. My work, is well, kind of the opposite lol. Sure, there is craftsmanship, but my work can be loud, and imperfect, and even vulgar. My fears and hesitation were certainly present, but ultimately over-exaggerated. I was received so well. The pieces I had no idea would sell well were gone instantly (the duck cup amongst others, of course). I suppose craftsmanship can present itself in different ways, and ultimately across cultures, the threads of this ideas remain intact. I've said it before, but I don't need 1 million followers, only 10000 badass people supporting my work and maybe even collecting multiple pieces to fill a hutch. Im proud to say I may have started a few new hutch collections in Japan. Im grateful, and full, and feel like so much is possible.

If you've made it this far, thank you. You're badass, you can do anything. Start a small ceramics company, open a coffee shop. It's all possible. Thank you for supporting and reading my mind spurts, along with all its grammatical errors.

-d

Tok-san's Studio

I tend to find inspiration in a lot of places. It's been extremely stimulating to draw from so many sources - thrift stores, traveling, vintage paintings, Americana, tattoo artists - all to circle around and culminate into the art that you see on my ceramics. I first met Tokuhiko Kise from Truck Furniture in Osaka a couple years ago when he opened his showroom in DTLA. Im not a huge furniture aficionado however when I discovered his work and the craftsman ship involved in it, I told myself I would visit as soon as I got the chance. When the opportunity came on this most recent trip, i'm confident to say that Tok's woodworking / lifestyle compound (yes, compound - theres a factory, two showrooms, a gym, private studio, residence and coffee shop on a singular lot) is likely the most influential space I've ever visited. His passion for vintage craft and Americana driven art is really unmatched. Every corner of the space has its own personality, and conveys a different story that really just ties into one true theme : craftsmanship. Heres some photos of his space. It was really an honor to spend almost two days with him and take a glimpse into this life. Arigato Tok san, I look forward to our next visit!

@truckfurniture

@bird_coffee_osaka

Above : some of Tok's record collection and cut outs he tacked to the wall. One including a small KFC chicken bag

Above : dusty vintage cassette tapes

Tok's insanely popular coffee shop called Bird preparing for the donut rush. Everything is made fresh and in this old school frier

Popeye Magazine Feature

When it comes to cool publications, none really beat Popeye magazine, especially in Japan. Itll be hard to top this, truly honored to be featured. I cant read the articles but you can pick up a copy at most Japanese bookshops in the states or anywhere in Japan

Original Danny D's Mud Shop Shirt Restocked! And some old stock discounted

Link to Merch

Favorite Places In Japan

In anticipation for the popup, we decided to travel a few weeks early to experience a new side of Japan. I've been a number of times before, but only limited to Tokyo and Kyoto, sort of the main tourist path. It was always a travel goal of mine to road trip in a foreign country - so thats what we did. Here was the route. We trained to Osaka, so it wasn't as long as the map is saying by car, but out of recommendation we landed in really amazing spots along the way with max only 4 hours a day by car. I learned how to drive on the left hand side (and am still adjusting back home). I feel as though tourism in Japan has really pushed the use of the Shinkansen train which is completely justified, but i'm here to tell ya'll, my valued readers, if there is ever an opportunity to rent a car, it opens up so much opportunity to explore - I cant recommend it enough! Here are three of my favorite spots we stopped along the way