When visiting Minneapolis, a friend recommended a glass shop I just had to check out. I love working with glass and my current obsession is flameworking. Malcom Potek, the owner, really knows his craft. He has been a flameworker for years and now focuses mostly on fusing and stained glass. He gave me a tour of the shop, which is filled with every type of glass and tool you could want. We even discovered we had friends in common. This place is a true find, and I highly recommend Potek Glass if you are interested in any kind of glass hobby. I only wish I lived closer. read more

See all

We were in town for a flight and found this place by chance. My wife had just started with stained glass as a new hobby. The people here were extremely helpful and patient. Wish we lived closer so we could attend a class or two. Amazing service and amazing facility. read more

I am just getting started with stained glass. Mark took the time to explain so many products to me and even let me try cutters. Wish I lived closer so I could take classes but will definitely stock up my supplies here whenever I get close to the cities. read more

Wonderful business in Minneapolis. Malcom is extremely knowledgeable and kind. Whether you take a class or get some glass for your own projects, this is a great place! read more

Try a new adventure, go into it with an open mind, and you will have fun. I recently purchased a Groupon for a class at Potek Glass, the normal price was $85 but the Groupon offered the class for $40 (all materials included). A great deal to give something a try for the first time. This is not something I would've ever even known about if it wasn't for Groupon, so I am super happy it popped up one day. My friend and I chose the Boron class, but Kiln and Bead classes are also available. Their website describes Boro as follows: Borosilicate glass gets its name from the element boron, which is added as a flux to create an American hard glass. A melt that occurs at a hotter temperature, boro is well suited for sculptural glass endeavors. In this class students will create a small paperweight, smash a gather into an icicle ornament as well as experiment with blowing a small object. We were greeted in the Lobby by Owner, Malcom Potek, while we waited for all the class participants (10 people total per class). He brought us up to the sixth floor studio and we sat at a large table. Class started right away with a safety lesson on how to use the torches and the proper way to light, and turn off the oxygen and propane so we don't explode ourselves, and his place. He had a tell, then show approach. He would tell us about what we were about to do, then do it himself, then let us do it ourselves. We learned several different glass techniques and were able to make our very own paperweight and icicle to take home with us. Being an artistic person, I thought this class would be a breeze and I would create something awesome. I was extremely surprised at how hard this actually was to do! Perfecting the art of glass making would be a very time consuming task; a venture that I am not willing to embark on, but I am certainly glad I gave it a try. Malcom did note that once you get it, its a breeze, sorta like an epiphany. Potek does offer an "Open Torch" class, every second Saturday, so you can practice your newly acquired skills. You bring your own glass and he provides the tools for a 4 hour time slot, come for an hour or come for four hours, $15 fee. You must be certified to attend this class; getting certified simply requires you to take a Try-it Class. My weird looking chunks of glass may or may not be gracing the walls of a museum anytime soon (far more likely to be unseen in the bottom of my junk drawer, or even trash can). However, I can say I tried it and had a great experience that not many others have had before. Give it a shot people, maybe you will love it, maybe you are a natural...and maybe you will make millions of dollars like Dale Chihuly...and then you can give me some of your millions because I turned you on to glass! Maybe. read more

I also found Potek through Groupon. My sister and I went and had a fun time. Annie was a good instructor. It was easier to follow along with her Couple moments where stressful but that was just me and a torch... Haha. We made several items during class. They were small but a great way to learn techniques and get ideas of what I would make in the future. I will definitely go back during their open hour class time. Prices seemed reasonable to try make some little Christmas presents for loved ones. Annie, the instructor gets 5 stars but I am only giving the over all rating 4 just because I don't think technically we should call the item we made a paperweight. It was very tiny but all in all fun to make. Thanks Potek! read more

The class we took was amazing! Malcolm was a great teacher, and we all had such a blast. We got to make amazing things, and had plenty of support and creative freedom! Already registering for another class! read more

Horrible. Julie was snide and disrespectful. I regret not reading the reviews here prior to taking this class. She was judgmental, negatively quippy, and unclear in her direction giving which was just the start of it. She noted leaving the vents off for the class which I've now found online through a number of reputable sources is quite dangerous. I left with severe chest pain and coughing--I thought it was maybe due to the level of dust in the space as others in the class began doing so as well. However, that rapidly escalated to intense coughing fits, blurred and double vision, pain while breathing, and an inability to breathe deeply. It turns out it's Pneumomediastinum which occurs when glassblowing is done in non-ventilated areas, as we were because Julie chose to turn them off. This exposure can also impact vision as it did for me. Two others in the class that left coughing are in a similar boat as me some days later. As a new glassblower I had no idea to even advocate for myself in this way. I'll be certain to do my own safety research in advance. I've now been coughing blood for days, had to take work off today, get X-rays, use a nebulizer, etc. Safety didn't appear as a priority. We were told we wouldn't get to take the class if we were late because we would miss the safety discussion. In actuality, students were late and we waited over 20 minutes past our class time to even go upstairs and start, and the she was stern about ensuring we cleaned up and were ready to go 5 minutes prior to 1. Her words were that she wouldn't necessarily kick us out at 1 but she would ignore us. Either I got screwed out of a much needed 20 minutes of safety education or time with the torch. This makes sense granted I didn't walk away with much. Either way with their prices I lost out on solid time for my money. It's no wonder Groupon keeps them afloat. The photo of what we were supposed to be making (a paper weight) was misleading. We were really making the smallest, lightest paperweight of all time, marble sized. She wasn't versed in bubble blowing so she couldn't really speak to getting better at the skill granted she could barely do it herself. I'm so disappointed. Glassblowing was very fun, not to any credit of our instructor's behavior, and I don't think it's fun enough to justify days of coughing blood and being unable to sleep without sitting upright. I'll be back to another studio to safely glassblow, but I can not recommend enough that you avoid this place like the plague. The documentation from other Yelpers of the owner's communication and of Mary as well led me to understand it's not an isolated issue. read more

Bought a coupon on Amazon Local for a Try It boron class. Had a really fun time. I think our class instructor was Amy. Was about 3 hours, had some free time so we were able to make 4 pieces. It would make for a fun date night, or girls night. She did talk about open torch sessions, and would sign up to other classes if they had them. I don't feel I am ready to sign up for open time. Not sure what I would make with extra time on a torch. I may sign up for the bead class just to play a little more. My only critique is that they should have a different safety glasses. The ones they have don't fit well if you wear regular glasses. read more

Found Potek glass through Groupon. The class was described as "Borosilicate glass gets its name from the element boron, which is added as a flux to create an American hard glass. A melt that occurs at a hotter temperature, boro is well suited for sculptural glass endeavors. In this class students will create a small paperweight, smash a gather into an icicle ornament as well as experiment with blowing a small object." PAPERWEIGHT???? Nope a MARBLE YES!!! an icicle???? If the instructor can get to you with your questions. We arrived 10 minutes before the recommended time of 15 minutes early, to prevent not being allowed into the class, & paying a $35 reschedule fee. We were met with the comment "wow your really early, hopefully you don't have a really long wait, cause we will wait up to 5 minutes after class was to start for those that maybe late". What?? Ok, then we were told how this class, the Baron Class is just to learn how to work the torch. That the "paper weight isn't really a paper weight. Which turned out to be VERY true! We made a glass thing smaller than a marble. Learn how to use the torch.........the instructor would have the class watch her make her "marble" then tell us to do it. I beleive the entire 3 hour class we had our torches on for a maximum of maybe 20 minutes (that's stretching it). This class is NOT worth even the Groupon cost, or the time spent getting there. they tell you to get there there early to prevent being turned away and paying a reschedule fee or losing you payment all together. Then get there as they requested, & being told we have to wait at least 5 minutes after class starts for those that maybe late. Again, REALLY! DONT GO!!!!!!!..not worth the money, instructor not readily available, short on patience. If we'd known it was torch learning, and wouldn't make a paper weight as pictured & how can you learn the torch in 20 minutes? we would not have paid the $45 to sit & watch the instructor for 2 hours & 40 minutes! It was a waste of money and our time. read more

I loved taking this class! Our teacher, Julie, did a great job of introducing and teaching us how to work with glass. It was scary at first, but with her help we were soon confident to work with the glass and feel very safe. And what a fun and magical experience. We got to try three different pieces then had time to choose our favorite and make more of that. The time flew, and I got quite enchanted and addicted to doing this craft. I look forward to doing it more. It was a very friendly group, and we had a lot of laughs. read more

Third update: Malcolm Potek, you can attack, belittle, patronize, and lie all you wish, but I stand by my review. You create facts to fit your fantasy that you're delivering excellent customer service. Maybe you do, in other situations, but in this one, you SUCKED. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck yesterday. I run two businesses. I deal with delivering customer service every single day. No amount of personal attacks on me will make me withdraw my review. You're not helping yourself. All you're doing is making yourself look like a bully. You know what would have helped? Something as simple as "I'm sorry things went wrong for you today. Let's see how we can fix this and make things righ for both of us." THAT's customer service. You never offered one single solution. Even airlines have provisions for emergencies. You chose to be rude, insulting, and hang up the phone on me twice instead of offering a solution. By the way, I didn't "admit to a dropped call," on your first hangup, which is seriously funny, as if I have knowledge of what the cell towers and satellites are up to. I knew you hung up, so I said, "The call must have dropped," which was a polite way of giving you an out and offering you an olive branch to try again to muster up some customer service. Like other reviewers, I bought a Groupon to this place and decided to try my hand at some sort of glass blowing. Never mind my fear of fire - I was ready to learn something new! I'm fluent in all sorts of artistic media - pottery and other ceramic arts, mosaic, custom sewing, even building giant custom chicken coops from hand, so why not? Too bad I didn't get the chance. I had to schedule this class over three months out (scheduled a 2:00 pm 3/16/13 class on 12/10/12), because I wanted the "Basics from Boron" class, and they were all full, except one about two months out that occurred during my long-planned vacation. So I patiently waited for my opportunity to attend. On the morning of my class I had an emergency. I won't list the private details, but I either needed to reschedule or have permission to come to class late. I started calling before 10:00 AM, and never got a response from my repeated phone calls and voice mail until around 5:40 PM, after the class was over, and after I could have attended, albeit late. I was rudely told that I'd have to pay another $40 (thereby doubling my price) to attend another class. In addition to Malcolm Potek's stubborn refusal to work with me after my 3-month wait and subsequent emergency, he hung up the phone on me. TWICE. Great way to do business. In addition, he basically told me I was a liar when I mentioned that I had waited over three months for that class, insisting that he had had tons of open spots all along. WRONG! I have the email chain between us to prove the timeline. I guess the Groupon deal is how he stays in business, because his customer service skills are definitely not what's bringing people in. Update: I received this threatening response from the owner of Potek Glass: Malcom P. Block User 4 minutes ago Hi JuliAnne, I am writting this to see if you have your facts in order, and if we can come to an amicable agreement. I have all the e-mails and phone records of our conversation. I am about to describe it publicly both to my customers and to Yelp, my version of the insulting phone call, my records, including the release form you returned that describes our reschedule policy, and hundreds of students who have registered for classes since 12/10/12 and 3/17/13. I take my customer service very seriously, and have had thousands of students to back me up. I will not however be abused - please discontinue this strategy of covering for your mistakes. Because your vitriol describes e-mail and scheduling that will affect an employee's position please let me know if I have missed any content that you think I should be aware of. Malcom Potek." So because I stated my truth as I experienced it about what happened and how this business owner treated me, he now attempts to bully me via email and use what amounts to emotional blackmail to attempt to make me remove my review? And he basically said I'm responsible for his decisions in how he chooses to treat an employee of his?? Good grief. This business owner chose to be rude to me, refused to offer to be flexible in any way, never offered an apology, basically told me I'm lying about the scheduling difficulties I had, and hung up the phone on me TWICE (my horrible insult was "You're not a very nice person." THAT is what this guy calls abusive, by the way!) I'm sorry you don't like the honest review you received because of it. It's not acceptable to bully me and threaten the employment of an employee. You're a real class act. Go ahead and continue to threaten me via Yelp if you must. My reputation is intact. Yours is getting worse by the second. Oh, and Groupon refunded my money. Tell your employee to contact me if s/he takes you to court. read more

I went with a Groupon to the intro lamp work bead class. The instructor, Julie, was not great. She didn't give step by step instructions, and that seemed dangerous considering all the flammable gas we were working with. She demonstrated, but didn't give clear directions. We were supposed to send in a release in advance of the class, and she didn't have that information when we arrived. Wish I had Annie as an instructor. read more

My husband and I had a fun time together doing the try it class for the glass tiles. We had a groupon and it was great. Yes, the glass pieces can be small, but u are only doing a small tile. He also went and got some bigger pieces for people. Remember when u buy those deals that the owner only gets 1/4 of what u would normally pay (1/2 price deal and 1/2 to groupon), but his costs are the same. read more

I was in town visiting a girlfriend and we used the deal we got from Groupon. We had a blast. everything was really professional and I really believe I am a true glass maker now! Ha! Well I'm not very good, but it was a lot of fun! read more

Like the previous reviewer I also bought a groupon and it was a horrible experience. None of the glass pieces we were supposed to use for our Kiln glass worked and when we asked the instructor if he had more glass he said no (even though there were multiple sheets by his demonstration table). He basically got paid for us to use up his crappy glass scraps. He also approved all of the designs before they went in the kiln and when I picked mine up it was AWFUL. I realize that is my creative talent at work, but it would have been nice if he would have told me there would be huge gaps in my design. Waste of money. read more

This was a HORRIBLE experience. For starters, thought I would need to change the date as I did not have my son. Was told there would be a $37.50 charge to change-excessive in my opinion as it was almost as much as the groupon! Thankfully his father agreed to let him come-well not sure if I am thankful after how the two of us were treated! Where do I start....There were 10 people, a table for 8 and then another table for 2 where you could not really see what Mary was doing as she sat at the head of that table. My son (13) and I got put at the table away from the others, where we could not see. The instructor Mary treated both of us just terribly. Keep in mind, this is a starter class, neither of us had ever done anything like this! Mary was VERY short on patience, she gave 10 step instructions, none of which were written down. She was helping the table of 8 while our calls for help were blatantly ignored. Not only that, she would mutter under her breath in disgust when she did have to come over to help.Our questions were no different than those at the main table with her. Then, one of the people in the class got his stuff done and wanted to purchase some glass-while my son had questions she was worried about ringing up this sale etc....instead of helping. Because of this, my son's piece was ruined-she did not get there in time. She COULD have given the man the glass, and charged him after. The piece was only $4.00! (Other people had questions while she was ringing up this sale, she went to them first!) The class was very stressful, it should have been fun and relaxing. Each time we asked for help-it was delayed. She was too busy helping those at her table of 8. Then, at the end of the class she started to make a piece for herself while my son was on his last piece-because she was doing this she could not stop to help my son. Really...why the need to make something for herself, shouldn't she have seen to the class?! To me, the class was over sold-10 seemed to be too many people for this woman. Not only that, was unfair that we could not see. Now let's get to the paper weight. This was the size of barely a quarter and would not even hold a receipt! As were the other two things we made-this should have been in the description that this would not be a functioning paperweight-class is merely an introduction on what you could make with an advance class. My son was almost afraid to ask for help because of how rude Mary was. Muttering nasty things under her breath for us to hear was so UNPROFESSIONAL! This was an intro class, one would think that there will be people there with no experience!!!!!! There was absolutely NO PATIENCE!!!!!! I had to explain to my son that her behavior had NOTHING to do with him and that she was inappropriate in her behavior. Part of me wanted to get up and leave but I did not want to deprive him of this half ass run class. On the positive side, it gave my son an intro to this type of art. We just will not be coming back to this studio! I would not recommend this class, I am disappointed that something that should have been fun was stressful and very costly for the two of us!!! I am not so much disappointed in what we made-my biggest disgust was how we were treated. SHAME ON YOU for your abusive behavior!!!!! I paid almost $100.00 to be treated like this?! I should add, I too had just as many questions as my son and was treated with harsh disregard. Not to mention, things in our kit were missing and/or broken so we had to share tools. I plan quarterly team events at my office with my team, this studio will definitely not be on my list to take my team. Your loss.... read more

I also had a Groupon and took the Italian bead class. Very fun and Annie is a great instructor. The materials provided were well organized to make glass go smoothly, included everything we needed and there even were extras in case we messed up. I did feel like it got a bit rushed at the nd, thus the four vs five stars. But, the Groupon was a good intro. I would not have tried it without, but now would like to go back for open torch and thinking about another class. read more