Custom orders for cafés and restaurants: what to expect

About a quarter of our work is now for cafés, restaurants and small hotels, from a dozen espresso cups for a coffee bar in Auroville to 300 pieces of tableware for a restaurant in Chennai. If you are planning a custom order, this is how the process usually goes.

It starts with a conversation at the studio or on a video call. Bring your menu, a photo of your space and a list of the pieces you need: cup sizes, plate diameters, bowls for particular dishes. We discuss what works on the wheel and what does not. Shapes that need to stack in a busy kitchen, for example, need lower rims and thicker feet than shapes for a display shelf.

Next, we make samples. For each shape, we throw three or four pieces in your chosen glaze and fire them in the next kiln load. Samples cost ₹3,500 for up to four shapes, which comes off the final order. Use them in your kitchen for a week if you can; staff often notice things that owners miss, such as a cup that is awkward to stack beside the coffee machine.

Once the samples are approved, we confirm the quantities and price in writing and take a 40% advance. Production takes six to eight weeks for orders of 24 to 200 pieces, longer for very large ones. Because every piece is handmade, expect small differences in size and colour across a set; we match each batch to the approved samples as closely as we can. We deliver within Puducherry and Chennai ourselves, and keep your recipe on file for replacements.