Rae Dunn | The Madness & Obsession

If you’ve been on Instagram in the past few years, chances are you’ve seen Rae Dunn pottery. You may not know it by name, but if you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve definitely seen it. The white dishes with the black lettering that every shiplap obsessed housewife has piled in her china cabinet. Rae Dunn makes everything from mugs, canisters, bowls, spoon rests, glassware and other dishes to birdhouses, candles, dog beds, clocks, wall decor, etc. It seems like there are new Rae Dunn releases every week.

I first discovered Rae Dunn in Fall of 2017 when someone posted a photo of a Mrs. Claus mug to Facebook. As a blogger, my first thought was OMG that would look perfect in a styled photo on Instagram. A quick Pinterest search showed me that the world of Rae Dunn was much deeper than I could have ever imagined. I fell down the rabbit hole, and landed in a pile of mugs.

I discovered that Rae Dunn is a real person who started out selling her beautiful handmade pottery in the 90s. Eventually she signed on with the company Magenta to have her pieces mass produced and sold at TJX Stores (Winners, Homesense and Marshalls in Canada, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Marshalls in the US.)

Rae Dunn Pottery has an EXTREMELY loyal following. Possibly the most loyal following I’ve ever seen any company have. There are hundreds of Facebook groups and Instagram pages dedicated to discussing Rae Dunn. There are groups for buying and selling her pieces, groups for showing off your displays and getting display inspiration, and groups simply dedicated to talking about your finds, and about other “dunnies” that you encounter in the wild. There are even rehab groups, and groups for the husbands of Dunn wives.

“Dunnie” is a term to describe people who collect Rae Dunn. In the two years that I’ve been collecting, I’ve personally never had any issues with other dunnies, however I’ve seen some CRAZY things happen online. In the states, every day is like Black Friday to those who collect Rae Dunn. They line up outside of stores first thing in the morning, and run to the shelves as soon as the doors open. They are sometimes vicious, pushing, shoving, tripping and swearing their way to the Rae Dunn section of the store. Some even send their children running to the shelves to grab as much as they can before the rest of the dunnies clamour their way back to claim their bounty. So far in Canada, the most in store drama I’ve seen is a Dunnie who side eyed me when I found something before her.

I’ve seen people talk about physical assault happening during openings, police being called, people being injured, Dunn being broken, and the now famous “My leg is not a canister” incident.

Click HERE to see this now famous Rae Dunn opening incident on video. There are people running, falling, and tripping over each other for Rae Dunn canisters.

A common cause for anger in the Rae Dunn community are shelf clearers. These are the people that completely clear the shelf of every Rae Dunn piece in store, leaving nothing for the poor souls behind them. I witnessed this myself when I was searching for Christmas mugs last year and a store employee told me that someone came before me and cleared the shelf, spending hundreds of dollars in one transaction. Shelf clearers come in many forms. Some aren’t collectors of Rae Dunn, but resellers, who buy pieces in store only to resell them online for a large profit. This is especially common with the htf (hard to find) pieces, and most holiday items. The sad reality is, there just isn’t enough Dunn to go around, which leaves many resorting to paying astronomical prices to resellers online. I’m not innocent in the reselling game. I once bought a Thanksgiving canister for $12.99 and resold it on eBay for $80. A girl has to support her family, right? Some pieces sell for hundreds of dollars. You all know I love a good side hustle. This was the only piece I ever resold, because truth be told, I hate shipping things. My day job and existing side hustles also make it impossible to resell full time, although some people actually make a living doing this.

Other shelf clearers are simply every day Dunnies who collect for both themselves and their “Dunn buddies”. Dunn buddies aren’t just local. They span across cities, provinces and countries. Americans and Canadians love being Dunn buddies with each other because there are Rae Dunn pieces that are exclusive to either country that the other country doesn’t always get. Simply send your ISO (in search of) list to your Dunn buddy, and when they find what you’re looking for, you send them the money for the item and shipping.

My Canada Day Display this year with Canadian exclusive mugs

I made a vow to myself not to be a Dunn buddy for anyone back when I first started collecting. I had found a local Rae Dunn Facebook group that everyone posted their finds on. It’s a courtesy to post a photo of the store shelves when you’re in store, so the other local Dunnies know what’s available. One of my first finds ever were LL (large letter) Christmas mugs. I excitedly grabbed a “MERRY” and “JINGLE” for myself a posted a photo of the rest of the mugs on the shelf for the other local Dunnies to see. Within seconds, my inbox was being flooded with messages asking me to buy items for people and they would e-transfer me the money, asking me to leave items at the counter for them to pick up, or even asking that I stay in the store with their items in my cart until they could drive there and get them. These messages were coming from women that I had barely talked to online, and had never met in person. I vowed never to be anyone’s Dunn buddy from that moment forward. Now, almost two years later I do help friends and family who are looking for specific pieces, but that’s the extent of it.

The photo I posted that flooded my inbox.

It’s not just in person that things get heated in the Rae Dunn world. Online feuds happen daily across the many Rae Dunn groups on Facebook. I’ve witnessed many many things online, including but not limited to posts calling out other Dunnies for various reasons, posts making fun of other people’s displays, calling out shelf clearers, calling out the people who call out shelf clearers, etc. I even witnessed a feud so intense that the following scenario took place:

all of my opinions are mostly neutral*

After an ongoing Rae Dunn feud in some of the groups, Woman A- Ships Woman B a mug with Woman A’s name on it saying “Because you can’t seem to get my name out of your mouth, here’s a mug with my name on it”

Woman B then posts a video of her children smashing this mug.

This videos prompts outrage in the Rae Dunn community. How dare this woman involve the children! Not the children!

Woman A then goes to the post office some days later and sees that someone has sent her a white chocolate penis in the mail. Yes, a chocolate penis. The inside cover of the box had the words “EAT A DICK” typed out in large black font. It was sent anonymously, but we can only imagine Woman B had something to do with it. One women gets smashed pottery and judgement on her parenting, the other gets a snack. Who’s the real winner here?

That was just one of many Dunn related scenarios I’ve watched from the virtual bleachers of the Rae Dunn community. I’ll admit, most of these ladies are super nice and normal, but Rae Dunn can bring the crazy out in the best of us.

I also feel the need to discuss the madness that is the Rae Dunn seasons. A few times a year, Dunnies everywhere anxiously await the launch of new collections. Rae Dunn pottery can be found year round, but there are certain times that are more significant than others when it comes to the great Dunn hunt. Those times are Halloween, Christmas, and BH (birdhouse) season. Easter is also up there, but the buzz around Easter doesn’t come close to the other seasons.

I’m guilty of drinking the Kool-Aid (in a Rae Dunn mug of course). As I write this, we are kicking off Halloween season, and I’m stalking our local stores like Joe stalks Beck in “You” on Netflix.

Last year I went out in search of Halloween, and rounded the corner at Winners to find an entire shelf of Boo and Haunted mugs. I died right there, then came back to life to post about it on our local Dunnie pages, and run to the check out.

Actual photo I posted in the local Dunn groups once I revived myself

This year, I’m in search of a few specific Halloween mugs, and the coveted Black Halloween pottery that rarely comes to Canada. It’s been spotted out West though, so it should be on its way East. When new releases happen, they always hit the Western provinces first. Our Dunnie friends in BC get the goods, and the ladies in different provinces update the groups when something new is spotted in their province. This lets us know when items are on the way. Out East, we know to start showing up at the stores daily to check once the Quebec stores get their shipments, because it means we’re next.

Another one of my Halloween Rae Dunn finds from last year

Since the Rae Dunn craze became mainstream (largely in part due to the whole modern farmhouse trend), complimentary decor is also highly sought out, and many Dunnies end up with identical decor pieces. There are Rae Dunn display and decor groups on Facebook meant to share displays, decor inspiration, etc. Aside from the TJX stores, Michael’s, Target, The Dollar Store, Etsy, etc are also popular places to find decor for your Rae Dunn display. It’s also become popular to make Rae Dunn themed accessories, using the popular “large letter” font that Rae uses on her pottery. A simple search on Etsy will turn up signs, decals and various other decor using the Rae Dunn font. Decals are popular with the dunnies who can’t find certain pieces- they use the decal on the back of their existing pieces to create something new.

A stand I bought on clearance at Homesense that I’m spray painting black for my display

I’m not personally into the whole modern farmhouse look, but I’ll admit that I do love those groups for display inspiration. For being a Rae Dunn collector, my collection is pretty minimal, and mostly holiday related. I’ve seen some photos online where the collector’s house literally looks like a Rae Dunn factory, with every surface covered in Rae Dunn. I’ve also seen floor to ceiling mug displays, where the mugs are for looking at only, not for drinking from. At our house, we actually use our Rae Dunn dishes, but for many, it’s display pottery only.

My gingerbread find from last year! I’ve used it to make bread a few times, and the bread always turns out great.

If you want to see some elaborate and beautiful Rae Dunn displays, search for Rae Dunn on Pinterest! Although I’ve been collecting for a couple of years, I’m still fairly new to the display game, and am currently planning out my Halloween and Christmas displays for this year.

I’ve seen Rae Dunn take over the lives of many people, so I try to be very careful with the pieces I choose to buy. It’s a fun hobby, but it’s insane how intense collecting pottery can get. I’ve seen many people go in debt just to have new pieces.

I have a RD inspired Halloween DIY coming up soon! If you want to see more posts about Rae Dunn, or have any questions about this post, comment below!