First promo shot

In 2002 I became interested, obsessed even, in photo coffee mugs. I was in transition in my life, and looking for a business to start, and I set out to create a website where users could upload photos and text to make their own coffee mug designs.

I left my graphic design position at The Oregonian, made a simple business plan, and purchased some equipment:

• Single mug heat press (horizontal style with handle up)
• Epson color scanner
• Epson 1280 color printer
• Bulk dye sublimation mod kit for printer
• Sublimation dye
• 36 blank coated ceramic mugs

I set up shop in my basement and began testing designs.

Meanwhile my website was barely functional, but it it did work. Users could upload one photo and some text simultaneously using a “multi part” form and PHP. The image was scaled by a web server application called imagemagick, and the text was presented as HTML. Although users chose a font style at the upload step, they never were able to preview how their actual design worked.

However, even with no confirmation that their design would look great, business that first fall and winter was gangbusters. Google had ranked Kustom Kup in the top 3 for some of the most important searches: photo mug, photo coffee mug, photo mugs, etc. My wife and I sat and watched the orders pop up in our email box, sometimes coming as frequently as every two minutes. During peak times we sold perhaps 50 mugs a day.

We slaved away making hot mugs in the basement, drying the finished products on large racks, and packing them into 5 by 5 boxes. It was tedious process getting all those shipping labels on the correct orders. But the mugs went out, the customers were happy, and a small profit was made.

Kustom Kup was up and running!