Meeting our ceramic manufacturers
In October 2024, Coucou Suzette had the pleasure of unveiling its brand-new collection, “Autumn Tea Party”, featuring none other than… The brand’s very first ceramics, an exclusive world premiere, ladies and gents!
Although Juliette, founder of Coucou Suzette, has been passionate about ceramics for many years, creating countless pieces for herself and her loved ones, she had never taken the leap to share them with the public. Well, that moment has finally come!
For the making of these little treasures for your cupboards, we chose to work with the most local and responsible manufacturer possible.
That’s how we teamed up with a family-run Portuguese factory near Lisbon, whose craftsmanship dates back to the 1980s and has been passed down from generation to generation. Over the years, they’ve managed to evolve with the times while keeping their traditional production methods alive.
In March 2024, Juliette had the joy of visiting them and discovering their wonderful world firsthand. She was greeted with warmth and finally got to put faces to all those email signatures. The place is spacious, with molds stored all around and shelves lining the walls — all filled from floor to ceiling with pieces in progress. It almost feels like stepping into a museum.
Juliette also met the whole team and discovered the different workstations involved in each stage of production. It all starts with molding the clay in custom-made molds, which bring the 2D designs to life in spectacular 3D form. Then comes polishing, to smooth out any imperfections. Next up is color application, using colored slips applied by dipping, brushing, or spraying, before the true artists step in to hand-paint all the fine details. Finally, once the piece is complete, it’s time for drying, firing, and the last step: glazing. This involves adding a thin transparent layer over the entire piece to give it that beautiful, glossy finish.
While a few steps are mechanized, 90% of the production is done by hand, with great attention paid to every detail.
This visit was also an opportunity for Juliette to explore all the color samples, fine-tune the technical sheets for the mugs and carafe with the teams, and perfect the packaging to minimize breakage during shipping. After all, nothing beats a good face-to-face exchange, does it?
A trip that allowed us to learn more about the making of our creations and, as always, to meet our wonderful partners who stand by us every day in our creative madness!
A spark of inspiration gave birth, a few months later, to the ceramics of the Coucouning winter collection: a sumptuous cat teapot, along with a matching sponge holder.
The following spring, with the arrival of sunnier days, it was the turn of the sunflower, daisy, and strawberry pots to make their debut. They fit perfectly both indoors and out, on balconies or in gardens—true little décor gems that bring a burst of life to our homes! !