Amazing Art Studio — Attraction in Gaithersburg

I booked an appt online.

My kiddo and I showed up for our appt, and were greeted by Julia. I gave her my name and she proceeded to go on and on about how long my name was and she couldn't pronounce it, blah, blah. blah . . . all with my child present, who shares the same last name.

Including cultural competency in your business approach, especially when you live in the most diverse city in the nation should be a given.

But Julia didn't get the memo.

Needless to say, this is not the vibe we wanted to start our art session with.

I noticed she was abrasive in her communication with one of the employees, a woman of color. As a fellow woman of color, I was saddened to see this.

Meg, another employee, had a rude tone when she responded to my inquiry about a ceramic animal. Odd, as this is quite literally her job.

I also witnessed Meredith being short and dry with a Latino family. They appeared to be kind and accommodating with other families, none of which were people of color.

I waited to give Julia feedback until the end of our session. She defended her actions despite me explaining that it's not about intent, but impact. She never apologized. I explained how damaging it can be to treat someone's name as she did ours, which is tied to both identity and heritage, and pointed out how damaging this can be to a small child during their formative years (such as my daughter). She still didn't apologize.

Please do better.

I will not...

I had called to sign my daughter up for the summer camp weeks. I was confused how to do a promo code they had so I called.The lady on the phone tells me I put the code on both transactions. Cool done got it. Couple days later I get an email saying I still owe $25 for the classes. I email back explaining what the lady told me to do and how I was just following directions. This dragged into a back and forth he said she said all over $25 and because they are a "micro business just trying to survive" I get small businesses need help. Which is why I signed her up for classes to begin with here and not else where. Just be warned ⚠️ if you try to use a discount code they might not honor it.

Edit: Clearly not reading the review either. 🙄 Don't matter if you honored the code on the second week. The Rep on the phone told me to insert code on both transactions. I was following directions and now have wasted time and money on this "micro business " that won't be getting my business...

I've been to the studio several times and on every occasion (office holiday party, and several family outings) the staff is SO very friendly and knowledgeable and kind.

Even on a busy night, they are more than happy to take the time to show you techniques to help make your pieces the best that they can be and they have so many kinds of projects available that no matter what you're interested in you can definitely find something to suit your taste and skill.

I recently went to one of their event nights and when I notified them that I had a food allergy and was unsure if i could have any of the prepared snacks, they went out of their way to show me food labels and made me my own popcorn to ensure that I could eat and enjoy myself along with everyone else.

Its my favorite place to go, be it a family day, or date night, or other occasion. My only issue is that I am running out of places to display all the wonderful things I...