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About Dogwood Ceramic Supply
The Equipment and Supply Specialists
Dogwood Ceramic Supply is a nationally recognized pottery and ceramic equipment and supply specialist.
Because we limit our product offerings, often to a single brand within a product category, we are often able to
offer far better prices and even greater product support when compared to many of our competitors who try to be everything to everybody.
Take kilns for example. Dogwood Ceramic Supply sells only Paragon Kilns.
One brand, that is it. Even within the Paragon product line, we sell only a limited range of the Paragon catalog standard kilns. Basically what we do,
we do very well. Our experience and knowledge of the Paragon product line is reflected in our extensive
Paragon Information and companion small kiln comparison web-pages. The Dogwood Ceramic Supply developed Paragon Information webpage is so thorough
and informative that the page is often used as a selling tool by our competitors and even kiln companies competing against Paragon.
While sharing knowledge is always important, even more important is maintaining adequate inventory of equipment and supplies
in stock for immediate shipment to schools, hospitals,
studios and working professionals. Specializing our product offerings has allowed Dogwood Ceramic Supply to maintain deeper inventory levels of critical
products needed by customers throughout the United States while at the same time allowing far better prices on those supplies because we eliminate much of the
wasteful overhead costs associated with warehousing competing product lines.
The History of Dogwood Ceramic Supply
Dogwood Ceramics was started as a traditional, family owned and operated storefront ceramic
studio in 1988. The foundation of the business was started in the early 70's as a kitchen table hobby. Later the hobby grew to take over a spare room
of the home, eventually to a finished shed behind the house and finally the storefront business in 1988.
As Dogwood Ceramics, grew and developed in the first years of business, it was clear the path for the business lie in something other than
a neighborhood studio and the first formal ceramic and pottery distributorships were added to the fledgling business. In 1993 Dogwood Ceramic was incorporated and
our name was changed to Dogwood Ceramic Supply to properly reflect the diversity of our products in the ever changing
and expanding business representing the leading manufacturers. As Dogwood Ceramic Supply continued to grow by serving
a wide variety of ceramic and pottery customers throughout the Deep South and across much of the United States, the plans were developed for
The Showroom which was constructed and opened for business on October 1, 2001.
Consistently an award winning distributor
since our inception
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Paragon started awarding Top
Performance Awards in 2002 to recognize distributors for outstanding sales volume.
Dogwood Ceramic Supply has received the award in inaugural year and every year since.
Dogwood Ceramic Supply's growth after Hurricane Katrina included the introduction of EPS Pottery
Stools and American Quality Ceramic Bisque. The EPS Pottery Stools are commercial furniture grade pottery
stools manufactured by a leading office furniture manufacturer exclusively for Dogwood Ceramic Supply. American Quality Ceramic Bisque is Dogwood Ceramic
Supply's high volume bisque line for recreation and production customers who would prefer to purchase a high quality ceramic bisque product manufactured in
the United States.
Having just completed our 20th Anniversary at the end of
2008, Dogwood Ceramic Supply is looking forward to the next 20 years with hopes of controlled expansion and great success.
The Showroom
The Showroom (shown above) with over 13,000 sq ft of combined product display and warehouse
space was specifically designed for the modern pottery and ceramic business with ground level access, seen towards the rear of the building, for loading the
customer's vehicles as well as a covered loading dock at the rear of the building to protect our freight shipments from
the inclement weather of South Mississippi. For our long term needs, The Showroom was located on 3 acres of land specifically so as to allow future expansions.
The Showroom is just a few blocks from Dogwood Ceramics'
original storefront location and is conveniently located in the heart of the
City of Gulfport on the scenic Mississippi Gulf Coast just a short distance from the I-10 and US Highway 49
interchange. Gulfport is located at the midway point between New Orleans and Mobile, and just a quick drive from Baton Rouge, Jackson, Pensacola and the rest
of the Florida Panhandle. Even Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Memphis, Atlanta, Orlando and Tampa are all less than 2 hours away through the number of
airlines offering daily direct, non-stop, jet service into the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. The Maps to Dogwood
includes local and regional maps as well as clearly written directions to The Showroom.
Everybody is welcome to visit the scenic Mississippi Gulf Coast and Dogwood Ceramic Supply during our normal business hours:
Showroom Business Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday 10AM to 5PM
Thursday 1PM to 6PM
Closed Wednesday and Sunday
And for those customers that are unable to visit The Showroom on a routine basis, Dogwood Ceramic Supply offers daily UPS and motor freight shipping to serve our customers through out the United States, as well as container shipments to serve our international customers in Europe and South America.
Questions about Dogwood Ceramic Supply
Why the name "Dogwood Ceramic Supply?"
Actually, as previously noted, the business name started as Dogwood Ceramics. Even today we commonly refer to ourselves as
Dogwood Ceramics because old habits are hard to break... which might explain why we used the simple www.dogwoodceramics.com as the website name. By the way, many of our
customers even simplify the name further and just call us Dogwood.
Why did we name the business Dogwood Ceramics in the very beginning? Well naming the business "the cleanest, best stocked ceramic studio in
the Southern USA" might have sounded quite nifty but it was too big of tongue twister to actually name a business in such a manner. We did consider a
number of Magnolia names for the business as the Magnolia Flower and Magnolia Tree are both the Mississippi State Flower and State Tree and would have
provided us a geographic reference readily understood outside of the immediate market. But in the long run the Magnolia idea was far too common, used by far too many pottery and ceramic businesses and art
galleries and ultimately the Dogwood name won out.
Who is Dogwood Ceramic Supply?
Who are we? Who, meaning names?
Well, I am the Webmaster.
Emily Basset is the Director of Personnel.
Need more names? Well, in the simplest words, we (the business) have learned to keep names off the website. Why?
Telemarketers. You know, those low life, pond scum %$# @*&$ callers who disrupt our business 45 times per day and insist on speaking to any name they
find on the website or worse speaking "to the owner" of the business.
Customers (people who actually spend $ with Dogwood Ceramic Supply) will quickly learn the names of the staff members handling their transactions.
Telemarketers who contact Dogwood Ceramic Supply will never be given a person's name... at least not a correct name.... and if are feeling
really feisty we might just give the telephone to Emily Basset and let her speak with the telemarketer for a while.
Does Dogwood Ceramic Supply have a newsletter or do "social media" ?
In the simplest terms, the Hot Off the Press! webpage is our newsletter. The Hot Off the Press! is publically released for the benefit of the entire ceramic and pottery industry. No having to "sign up" for the newsletter or hoping your email spam filter doesn't trap the newsletter. No waiting for the newsletter to arrive by snail mail. Easy to share with your friends and most importantly your customers or students. Dogwood Ceramic Supply's Hot Off the Press! is "social media", just one step better.
What Products are handled by Dogwood Ceramic Supply?
A quick visit to the Product Index will answer most of your questions as to the products carried by Dogwood Ceramic Supply. Is the Product Index complete? Nope, and it never will be. But it is a good starting point. For additional product information always refer to the respective manufacturer's websites.
How does Dogwood Ceramic Supply determine what product lines to carry?
A working knowledge of our current product lines is always a good starting point. Once we determine a weakness in our product offering, then, and only then, do we evaluate additional product lines to add to our current product selection. Slow, steady and careful growth has always been a Dogwood Ceramic Supply trademark and has worked quite well for the past 23 years. One of our major considerations has always been how well the additional product line will fit in the current mix of products. Bottom line, cannibalizing one manufacturer's products to gain marginal sales with another manufacturer's products is not good business and will never happen at Dogwood Ceramic Supply.
I got a product that I want Dogwood Ceramic Supply to carry. How do I contact the purchasing officer?
You don't.
When and, most importantly, IF we desire your product we will come looking for you. Sending us letters or samples,
making telephone calls or worse, showing up in the showroom, is not going to leave a positive impression with Dogwood Ceramic Supply. In fact, any form
of solicitation will place your business on the permanent ban list. Banning a potential supplier might seem drastic, but we don't chase after prospective customers
and we expect the same level of professional conduct by our suppliers.
With regards to the follow up question.... yes we already know about your product. Our competitors are nice
enough to advertise the product on their websites and the like. We listen to
the our well respected customers who travel the country side visiting our
competitors and various art educator venues while looking for something different. We read virtually every trade or industry journal and magazine. Besides, we are really good at letting our fingers do the Google
Thing when we want to find a new widget or thing-a-bob. As previously stated, we will come looking for you if we want your products.
ceramic fiber top for glass kilns
12590 Dedeaux Road
Gulfport Mississippi, 39503
Telephone (228) 831-4848 Fax (228)
831-3111
Showroom Business Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday 10AM to 5PM
Thursday 1PM to 6PM
Closed Wednesday and Sunday
Everything you want to know about the history of Dogwood Ceramic Supply from 1988 thru the present but were to afraid to ask.