Finally catching up on my reviews! I visited BCI on 12/6/19 with my mom to try their beginners' pottery wheel class. I was able to score a BOGO offer off Groupon, so make sure you check prior to purchasing! When we arrived, it was easy to find the location because our uber took us directly to the building entrance (make sure you have the QR code emailed to you available to scan). Once we were inside the studio, we signed in and were offered wine! Our instructor was Reuben, and he made sure we were comfortable and assigned us our wheels. The class was pretty small because it was freezing that night which made it better because I was able to get more personal attention. The class starts with quick intros, then a run-down of the wheel, and how to center the clay. I am definitely not the most artistic person but I was able to follow the instructions and ended up with a very nice looking vase! One thing you should know is that towards the end, there is a fee to have your piece glazed ($10) and another fee to have it painted. The piece is available for pick-up 1 month after its creation, and they hold the piece for around ~8 weeks before it's tossed. Overall, it was a great learning experience and I would definitely come back for a different class! read more

See all

Apparently, I was never meant to be an artist....LOL! A friend of mine decided to celebrate her birthday this past March by making us do pottery. I was definitely giving her the side eye like whyyyyyy?? Well it was different and fun soooo she picked the right thing. You're allowed to bring your own wine & desserts just make sure it doesn't get on the clay. We did hand pottery and it was pretty cool. I made some type of key/ change/ astray thingy ( see picture)... it was suppose to be a flower but as I said before I wasn't meant to be an artist...lol. The instructor was friendly and patient and made the experience even better. If you're looking to do something outside of brunch for a special occasion, this will definitely work! read more

See all

I came here with a group of 7. Overall, we had positive experience with the class. We are also able to come an agreement with the number of Groupon Vouchers that can be redeemed in the same class. However, there are 3 areas of improvements. 1) not all classes are listed in the website and this can lead to confusion. I made the reservation on the phone thinking that there are wheel classes offered everyday. Alas, we didn't know that there is only hand building class offered on Saturday until we arrived. I was a little disappointed. 2) the instructor Sylvia is helpful and nice. However, about 30-45 minutes were spent to introduce everyone including her. The time could have been spent more wisely on the pottery. 3) the email could have been made clearer. The bar code is supposed to be scanned at a reception kiosk. I didn't encounter any kiosk but make a guess that the pass can be used for the parking gate, which works. Even though I only rated 3 stars (mostly on logistics) we still enjoyed our time nonetheless read more

Came for a pottery class and had an incredible time. The instructor was helpful and patient! Would definitely recommend coming solo, for a date, or with friends! I made a little cup and am so excited to come back and paint it read more

See all

I had a wonderful time taking the 2-hour wheel class with Reuben. The class was broken down into three sections - centering the clay, opening a hole in the clay, and raising the walls to create a meaningful shape. Reuben did a wonderful job of explaining each step and why we do things in a certain way. He paid individual attention to every student throughout the process. I would recommend this class for anyone, and I am so excited to return and paint my piece :) read more

I had a very underwhelming experience based on the price I paid. $60 to play with clay. I was expecting everything to be included in this price. However when I got to the studio I was informed that NOW I needed to pay $10 MORE in order to keep whatever I made. This is pretty much a lack of transparency on behalf of the studio. Everything should be stated at time of purchase and it wasn't. I ended up just sitting there watching everyone else complete there creations and paint them because I didn't pay the extra $10 - my clay was taken from me and recycled. ALSO- I noticed there was a rushing in the end of the class for everyone to finish- when some were barely done- this is super inconvenient for such an expensive class and could totally been avoided if the teacher didn't spend the first twenty minutes of class talking about herself. If it wasn't for my friends being there- I would say it was awful. But I will say it was an expensive worthless experience. I was very upset when I left and I tried asking or talking to the receptionist and she pretty much just shrugged her shoulders like- who cares... you paid so it is what it is and we don't care. read more

Update: Very nice/credible guy, needs strong admin support. After being charged (back in June) for, initiating following up and instructions to come in, finally scheduling to come in for a paint/glaze in late Oct, I again had immense trouble the day of. They instructed me to text "on the way over" to get the QR code, which took about 40 min to get after multiple failed attempts with lagged responses. We ended up grabbing something to eat/drink while waiting. Once entering the gate, it was another 10-15 minutes to walk to the studio. When we got there, they had trouble finding our pieces (not sure why they don't locate these beforehand when clients schedule to take the long commute and already paid) and then asked for payment again (after I communicated that we paid for them at least 4 times in the past five months to schedule this 5-10 min painting session). It's as if no one prepared for our paid for/scheduled session, which wouldn't be a big deal if the process was simple and seamless. I had a long thread of several months of emails to get to this point to come in and paint. It's not that hard to prep for the only people coming in that day to paint for a few min. I learned that the guy behind this studio is a credible artist and a really nice guy; unfortunately this specific business may not have the systems in place to run it smoothly and could give off the impression that they don't really care for the customers. After spending 5 months trying to get our fired pieces to paint, having to prove multiple times that they erroneously front charged our painting session, then having no follow up communication for us to retrieve and paint, paying about $160 total, traveling back and forth for an hour 4x, being overpromised that they'd refund $40 then backtracking later to $20, this is one of the few 2 star reviews I have ever given. ~ I'm sad that I'm having to give a less than stellar review, which I don't like to do: Brooklyn Clay is a solid clay workshop; however I would say the logistics and admin make the experience extremely difficult to appreciate (tried to inflate the number of stars as much as I authentically could): While the purchase process was straight forward, the directions (unless you've done it once) is a bit unclear and the communication turn around is about at least a few days with continued ambiguity and inconsistency to the point of them questioning whether you have purchased and deserve their service -- after paying a pretty decent amount. Once we arrived (both an hour late -- getting lost) to the location, we had an amazing experience with the instructor who was quickly able to get us up to speed. We'll be going back to paint next week -- hopefully they'll let us in (after we paid $120 for the early summer workshop and another $40 for the tax/oven/painting which I had to follow up numerous times for weeks to see if/when I can come back). Upon the follow up experience, I hope I'll be able to update the review with something a bit more appreciative. Thank you? read more

I sooooooo enjoyed the pottery class. the instructor was great. It was a great experience can not wait to pick up my pieces read more

Brooklyn Clay Industries - Art Classes Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

See all

Bought the intro to pottery wheel working class via Groupon for myself and significant other. The class as fantastic - from the instructor to the other attendees. I highly recommend this class to anyone wanting to reacquaint themselves with pottery or for a complete introduction. The instructor was knowledgeable, friendly, and spoke about his experience. He offered his help while allowing us to do our own thing if we wanted. Location was a bit of a challenge as the building is deep within the navy yard. Give yourself plenty of time to arrive. read more

I had a great time. I found this class very therapeutic. Everyone left with having made something. The instructor Reuben was very sweet and informative. The class was very well organized. The instructions provided prior to the class were very thorough and clear. Overall great experience! read more

I came here on a Wednesday with three other friends and we had a great time. Couple of things to note: Rueben our instructor and the gentleman at the front were both nice, helpful, and PATIENT!!! We did have a groupon but I do still the the cost was reasonable. In addition, a few people mentioned that there was an extra fee at the end of the class (and there is). But in the reminder emails they are very upfront about the charge to keep your piece (it's only $10). Speaking of email - it was very informative and had all information you needed to find your way to the class and what to expect. I highly recommend it - especially as a group or with friends (it's BYOB)! Although with the masks (covid), drinking is a little tricky with clay hands! read more

Made appointment a month in advance for a group of friends for a birthday. Got there, called, was waiting for call back. Come to find out they emailed me 45 min before our appointment to tell us they have to reschedule. My group and I are not from Brooklyn, we were already on the way there so obviously didn't get email. Winded up asking for refund because of how annoyed we were. Was told brooklyn clay industries would contact Groupon for a refund.. still did not receive it. Don't waste your time like I did. read more

We really enjoyed the class itself. The instructor was very engaging and made sure everyone was having fun and learning. However, my one star rating is due to the fact that we were never able to pick up our pieces of pottery. Quite frankly, whoever the staff member was that handled email correspondence was extremely rude. We were told the pieces would be done by a certain date, and although, yea, we were eager and excited to pick up what we've made, the response to our emails was rude and I professional. They never gave us a date to pick up our pottery. To this day we never got it back. read more

I loved my experience at Brooklyn Clay! Reuben was a great instructor. He was helpful and created a very entertaining class. I was impressed with what I could accomplish in my first try! The environment was laid back, relaxed, and fun. read more

We attended the studio last night and had a fantastic time. My girlfriend and I hadn't tried our hands at pottery before and the wheel seemed like it could be fun. Needless to say we were not disappointed! Reuben the instructor was excellent and provided all the tips and tricks to ensure everyone left with something to go in the kiln. A mixture of bowls, cups and shot glasses to collect 4 weeks from now... credit to Reuben as no one left with an ash tray! Definitely recommend giving it a go. read more

This was the worst customer service experience I have had. I would like to give this place 0 stars. Last night, we went to the address provided in our email that was labeled "event location". The location we went to was incorrect and we called the business. The woman on the phone gave us the correct address, however it was 45 minutes away and we would not be able to make the class on time. She apologized and had us send her the email. We asked if we could reschedule our class for the next day before we flew home or if we could have a refund. She stated the classes the next day were full and gave us the office number to call for a refund. We called with no answer and left a message. We called back the previous woman and she gave us a number to also text the office. After hearing nothing the next day, we called again. This time someone answered at the office and she told us she would be issuing a refund. The manager overheard her tell us we were getting a refund to answer abruptly and tell us they never do refunds. We then explained the situation and the texts we sent the night before to the office number. After blatantly telling us we were lying about the texts we sent and had no idea what we were talking about, he then suddenly found them and said he must have missed them. No apology was given. He then continued to tell us that we used the wrong address and should have known to use the address on the ticket that was listed as the "contact address" instead of the one we used which was clearly labeled as "event location". He then continued to talk over me, tell me that I was wrong and he would not issue any kind of refund. This business lacks professionalism and customer service. Not to mention we are now out $160 simply because the wrong address was listed on the tickets and the manager refused to take any accountability for their mistake. read more

We had such a blast at the Brooklyn Clay Industries. In the first half of the fundamentals class we were taught how to work with clay and how to manipulate it. The second half we got to make whatever we wanted and the instructor was happy to help with technique. Then we signed the bottom and painted our pieces. Can't wait to see how it turned out. It takes a little while for them to blast/glaze it so i'll be picking them up in about a month. We truly had such a great time, learned so much about how to use clay, met some wonderful people and got super creative! You could even byob! read more

We saw this got great reviews but our experience was really disappointing. The teacher didn't communicate what was going on clearly and her tone felt patronizing at times. We came expecting to learn, and while the instructor appeared to be very knowledgeable, she was not good at teaching the information in an organized way that empowered us to do it on our own. We left feeling frustrated because it could have been such a great experience and it's a great concept, but it was poorly executed. read more

My son had his first connection with clay here. He made a little pot with fruits according to a five year old perspective. He was so proud. The wheelmaster is very genuine, teacher-friendly and patient. Adults and young ones will learn skill and the patience. Will definitely sign up for adult class. read more

I highly recommend this. You can do a girls night out, date night and even go alone. You are guided throughout the whole process. I truly had a great time. This is my first and defiantly not my last read more