Bringing Order to Your Motley Mugs

by David L. Baron

Yes, this is an article about coffee mugs. You’re probably only reading this right now because you can’t believe that Dan’s Papers has assigned an article about such an inane topic. Now wait, before you roll your eyes and turn the page, let’s think about this for a second. If you’re not drinking from one right now, you most likely drank from a coffee mug this morning. Tomorrow you’ll do the same, and the day after that and even every day next week. And you’re not the only one. Almost everyone you know starts their day with a mug of something.

So lots of people use coffee mugs. Big deal, right? Wrong! Everyone uses coffee mugs and uses them almost every day. You carry them around your house, you leave them in other rooms by accident and you give them to your guests after dinner. But what most people don’t do is spend any time or energy thinking about what kind of coffee mugs they have. Wine glasses are used once, maybe twice a week, yet you probably spend an entire afternoon shopping around looking for just the right ones. Something doesn’t add up.

The truth of the matter is that coffee mugs, though clunky and bulky can be chic, quirky, interesting or, believe it or not, elegant. What’s more, it’s easier, cheaper and considerably more fun to upgrade your coffee mug collection then it is to shop for almost anything else in your kitchen. To understand how to build the ultimate coffee mug set, though, you have to understand what’s wrong with the one you already have.

It’s reasonable to assume that you have a set of twelve matching coffee mugs that make up the foundation of your collection. Since you bought them you’ve broken or lost a few but taken on others when you accidentally brought one back from the office or received a novelty coffee mug as a gift. Now you have a motley crew of mugs that have been through thousands of cups of coffee, endless dish washing cycles and years of abuse. Most of them are likely to have scratches, chips and stains, no matter what color they were originally. You need to start over. Use them as pencil holders, donate them or just trash them.

The first thing that you should do is decide on a theme. This sounds ridiculous, but I’m serious. Here are some examples. A friend of mine only buys green mugs. She has all different shades from all different places, but they’re all green and each of them has a little story attached. My collection is made up from white mugs that I bought at Art Museums. I’ve got them from the Uffizi, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The TATE Modern and the Denver Art Museum. They’re all the same size and color but they each have something different and interesting. Another friend of mine collects mugs of Major League Baseball teams. They’re all different colors but they all have a different baseball team. Pick something that interests you. What the theme is really doesn’t matter, all that maters is that there is some cohesiveness to your collection.

Then, once you have an idea of what you’d like, slowly start collecting. In your travels keep an eye out for the coffee mugs that fit your style. Or make a day of it, and decide that you want a mug from each of your favorite little towns on the East End and spend the afternoon driving around to collect them.

For some, this may sound like too much of a process or too much of a risk to take. Sets aren’t completely outlawed, just personality-less sets that have been mass-produced and sold at huge interior design stores. Turn to the Internet. With a quick Google search you will find that you can have almost anything you want printed onto as many mugs as you want for a relatively inexpensive amount. I recommend against photographs though, they usually fade after a few washes and end up looking ratty. Have initials printed on them or sketch some fun doodles and have them printed on your coffee mugs. There are also antique sets or pre-existing collections being sold all over the place. Surely, you’ll be able to find something that you love.

Now look at you. You’re at the end of an article about coffee mugs and you don’t think it’s so crazy anymore do you? I didn’t think so. Now pick something fun and go out on a coffee mug expedition. Every single morning you’ll be glad you did.