May 28, 2018 - I attended the 11:15am workshop, I wasn't sure what to expect since it is my first time doing this. I arrived a bit early but I was able to pick my seat and speak with the instructor. Groupon doesn't cover the GST/HST so you have to pay $4.90 (cash or debit). Our instructor Paul was wonderful, helpful and funny. He took the time to help all of us. Even though it was my first time I feel like I did a good job *pats on the back* ... We all did a good job. I will definitely go back when time permits. read more

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Had loads of fun yesterday at Pauls class! I purchased a Groupon for my Mom as a christmas gift as she loves ceramics classes and had never tried using a wheel. There were a few no shows so on top of our hands on class to make a bowl, pot, etc on the wheel we had the opportunity to do either a clay platter or work on the wheel some more... which was awesome. Paul has a good sense of humour which certainly made the class entertaining as well as informative and fun! Cant wait to see the end result! Overall I would say its a must try if your not super picky for dates or dont mind waiting a while to get a suitable time that fits your schedule( although Paul will accommodate you the best he can and is quick to respond to emails). All in all, great time. read more

The Pottery - Art Classes Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

Terrible experience. My friend warned me ahead of time that this guy can be a jerk over email and from previous reviews I can also see he has been quite consistent with others. I can attest to the fact that he is terrible in dealing with customers. I bought a Groupon that detailed that classes run Mon to Fri from 10am-3pm. I emailed him months ahead of time to ensure my spot and informed him of a specific date, and he said it was impossible to book me so early. He advised me to email him a few weeks before the date I requested. As he suggested, I emailed him a few more weeks before the date that I wanted and and he said he still couldn't book it yet because the schedule was not out. He told me he would email me in a week when the schedule is out. I waited and he never did. I didn't understand why I needed to keep waiting on the schedule when it says they have a classes every day on the Groupon. After I had already told him the date multiple times, after I emailed him AGAIN, he finally then told me merely a week or two before he didn't have a class on that date. I've been telling him the date all along and he is only telling me now last minute. HE SAID THE SCHEDULE WAS ALREADY OUT OVER A MONTH AGO AND TRIED TO BLAME ME FOR EMAILING HIM TOO LATE. Further he said there are only a couple classes until the end of the month. I bought this Groupon for an amazing mothers day gift but this guy completely ruined it. When he realized his errors after I sent him a strongly worded email, he apologized and asked me to still come in. I'm sorry. I don't give my money to businesses who can't seem to get themselves organized and then go ahead and blame the customer. I'm going to Glaze Craze. read more

I bought a groupon for a session here with my girlfriend and we had a great experience. Paul the owner / operator is a great teacher. He has a great sense of humor and put everyone at ease with a focus on learning rather than a focus on any pieces we were making. During the session a couple of his full time students dropped in to pick up some of their pieces and you could tell there was a mutual respect and kindness between Paul and these artists. This was a new experience for us, and Paul made the learning easy, stress free, and best of all, he made it fun. read more

The Pottery - Art Classes Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

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What a lovely, calming, creative experience this was. I joined an Intro class using a Groupon. Paul has a great way of making sure he demonstrates first, and then allows you to begin, while working one-on-one with people during those crucial moments while you're throwing a pot/vase on the wheel; then in other moments, you're free to try on your own. If you run into trouble, he'll come to help. The thing is, it's clay, and you can just try again! I've gone to other introduction clay classes in the US, and I remember spending session after session trying to just center the clay on the wheel (step 1)! But Paul gets everyone to the point where they've made not only a piece on the wheel, but also a plate by hand using a plate as sort of a mold. Paul even easily accommodated 3 people in the class (half the class) who came late due to traffic, while working with the other 3 of us who came on time. It's going to happen, and he takes it all in stride. We will get to pick up our pieces in about 8 weeks after he does the finishing work to trim the pieces, glaze the pieces, and fire the pieces (twice!) That's a lot of work he does on the backend of things. Thank you, Paul. I'm excited to get my pieces when you're finished with them :) read more

I really wanted to like this place. I always wanted to try pottery, so when my friend bought me a Groupon deal, I was very excited. However, I wasn't so thrilled with the experience, mostly because of the instructor/owner Paul. The class that was supposed to start at 1:30 started at 2pm because for 30min Paul was talking about his trip to England and how he didn't like things there. People were looking at each other because nobody could understand what it has to do with pottery, some even started yawning, but he didn't get a message. Finally, at 2 pm he split us into 2 groups (there were pottery wheels only for half of the group) and half of us were doing plates (basically, pressing the clay into samples) and another half was using the wheels. Then we switched. To my surprise, at 3:10 Paul said that we have to stop what we are doing and clean. Basically, what was supposed to be a 2hr class turned into 1hr 10min one. Don't get me wrong, it was a good experience and I will certainly try pottery again, but we felt rushed and the instruction was minimal. Maybe it was because the class was sold on Groupon, but I still think it could've been organized much better. read more

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I bought this off groupon and was in a class of 8 with Paul Stewart. He is a great teacher and has a firm yet friendly approach. He is a great artist and is amazing to work with as a first time clay user. The 2 hour workshop included a bowl/cup on a wheel and a serving plate. Great experience, loved it. read more

It appears I am having the same experience with this place as well. I was so excited when I purchased the Groupon in September. I tried contacting through email and phone - response to email came a week later. I tried booking for October and was told the same - the schedule is not out yet to book that far in advance. Then when I called/emailed back - the dates were all booked up :/ Now it is November and I am trying to book a date for the class and still not having any luck. I was remaining optimistic AND hoped I would be able to complete the class sometime in 2016 and that I will actually get an opportunity to experience the pottery wheel. For the months of November & December only 4 dates have been made available??? This is NOT looking promising. Very disappointing. read more

Came here with groupon. It was a fantastic intro workshop. The groupon plus tax ended up being about $40. We got to work on the wheel and also made a platter. We worked with the whitish clay not the reddish/brown clay. I think it was quite tricky. I destroyed my first piece on the wheel. There wasn't much time to really play with the wheel because as a beginner you will likely destroy it if you have too much fun and not take home anything. I will showcase my work after 6 weeks when it's glazed. Paul was fantastic. Very informative and experienced. I have seen other groupons where the workshop is more expensive probably about $60 per person plus the fine print says you pay extra fee to get your work glazed. So this groupon was just a terrific deal. read more

The Pottery - My flower pot which will be glazed after 6 weeks - Art Classes Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

I've taken a group class here (3 people- 10 weeks) and it was awesome! My teacher was Paul, the owner of The Pottery. I came in with no experience and now am in love with pottery! Paul taught us hand building as well as working on the wheel. I've made everything from platters to mugs to egg cups, and love using them as much as I did making them. The atmosphere is laid back and fun, and Paul is a great teacher who works with your interests and makes the experience personal. I've just signed up for a second round, and couldn't be happier! read more

I had a Groupon for the 2 hour workshop and arrived right on time. Paul argued with other customers for a few minutes, then started the instructional part about 15 minutes in, so we didn't begin working with clay until about 30 minutes in . We all got to make 1 platter and 1 wheel item, but had zero creative control of the wheel item. He came around and helped us lift the clay, then immediately said 'ok, you're done!'. There was still lots of time left, but we weren't given an opportunity to do more, so we cleaned up and ultimately left after 1 hour of a 2 hour workshop. What was accomplished in 1 hour was ok, but we easily could have spent more time making an item we wanted on the wheel versus a small cup/vessel with zero character. The workshop was supposed to be 2 hours so it was very disappointing only being there for 1. Pickup was also a nightmare. He said give it 8 weeks - despite the Groupon saying 3-4, we ended up waiting over 2 months and didn't get all the pieces because 1 went missing. He did offer to recreate it, but that defeats the purpose of making your own piece, so we chose a random mug from his consolation pile. read more

I usually never write poor reviews, but wanted to warn others before they decided to go to a class through this place. The guy conducting the class was inattentive to his students. I waited patiently for instructions and tips on what to do next (in making the piece), yet received little instructions. When I did, they were rushed and he seemed impatient to teach me. Near the end, he try to (irritatingly) rush me through when I was only half way done, saying, there's no way you can finish, so just do what you can and hurry up. We then picked up our pieces a couple weeks later (because it had to dry and be painted by the guy and rebaked to finish) and my pieces were baked with somebody else's finger prints, sharp/rough pieces on a originally smooth surface, chips off the edges and was very coarsely painted. I am just a beginner and by far from being a professional pottery maker, but even I thought the finished product was very poorly done. No care was taken into finishing my piece. I definitely would not recommend going to this place. I wouldn't go back even for a free class. read more

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This guy is very difficult to book with.... I bought a Groupon and he gave me 3 (out of 40 possible) days in 2 months available to book.

I went to a pottery class with Paul on January 4th. When I went to go pick up my pottery, a lot of other peoples' work was already in pieces from the way it had all just been thrown in a box. My pot was missing. Paul wasn't there when I went to pick up my pot. I emailed him asking him to have a look for my pot and even sent a picture of mine. He said he would have a look. When I emailed him again to ask if he had found my pot, I discovered that he had blocked my email. So I paid for a class to do pottery where I didn't even receive my work. I was so excited about my pottery and was really disappointed that I didn't even get to keep it after all that. This place is extremely disorganized and I would suggest that you don't bother wasting your money since there is no guarantee that you'll even get your pottery in the end. read more

I purchased a groupon for 2. There was also a groupon for 1 but I was bringing someone so the option was there to buy for 2. I then went on the pottery website to book a spot for several weeks ahead as I knew the travel dates for my companion. I did find it really odd that there were hardly any dates available but just assumed it was a small one owner run place and I would have to make do with the dates offered so I chose one and completed the booking by entering in my ONE voucher number provided to me upon purchase. Please make note that the voucher was to two people! About 2 days before the booking a man named Paul contacted me to tell me that there was only enough space for 1of the 2 people in the groupon and I would need to reschedule. He offered another appointment for the same day in the afternoon but Because of the late notice and other commitments it was not possible to change this. I asked for other dates in November or December. Nothing for December was posted online and only the 14th and 16th of November showed. So very odd for a company offering a service I had to note. He replied that I needed to make the alternate appointment he offered that day or forfeit the groupon stating that I had agreed to no changes within 7 days of booking - although NO ONE notified me within 7 days of booking that anything needed to be changed. Let's remember he could not accommodate the Groupon for 2. Essentially I have not been offered anything further but to show up or lose my money. I can't attend as I have other commitments and he gave our one space away to someone else. Very bad business. He may be good with pottery but lacking in communication skills and customer service for sure. I have let Groupon know what has transpired and advised them that I cannot utilize their service in good conscience any further as I have just essentially been robbed for $50. Sorry for the length of this but I needed to inform others who may get stiffed as well. NOT CLEAR - NOT ACCOMMODATING- AND ESSENTIALLY A WAY TO GET $$ WITHOUT PERFORMING SERVICE. With this company experience my groupon days are done. read more