La Mano Pottery — Attraction in New York

We had a bruising and bad experience with La Mano.

We enrolled in a beginning wheel series with high hopes. Before the class started, I sent a head’s up that my husband, who has been a painter, designer and art director in his long career, has some memory loss. The office promised to relay it to the teacher. The first class was fine. My husband loved it, made something he wanted to keep, and reminded me that he’d done wheel before. The teacher seemed happy. The next day I got a cagy call from the co-owner. She asked, “How was the class for you?” – I said great —then after chit chat came out with it. My husband took up “too much attention.” After ONE class, the teacher assessed he had “no mastery of basic technique.” Plus, he has a pinky finger contracture I “failed” to mention. (She raved earlier in the conversation about young amputee who became a brilliant potter, but I guess once you’re older, forget it?)

I was floored. So, a refund, right? No. Convert some of the tuition into a private lesson since you think that’s better? No. The “policy is set” and any money back would be “unfair to others.” She allowed we could buy private lessons if she “could find a match” but it is “very expensive” as if she knew anything about me. For good measure, she used my email to shame me for not considering these “problems” before we registered. (Consider that they are discriminatory?) She launched into all the ways the pandemic decimated their business, as if that were relevant. And finally, we’re “welcome” to take our places in class – places she made clear we deprived from a 700-person waitlist. But expect “no specialized attention to either of you at the expense of time dedicated to the rest of the group.”

Either of you? Now I’m a problem too? And what would that even look like? If we asked for help or struggled beyond some attention quota, would the teacher ignore us? Reprimand us? Send us to the corner? It was so weird, I asked for the teacher directly, thinking I might come up with practical adaptions. The co-owner declined, reiterating that was my “choice” to return. Let’s see. Spend $700 for a skill we’d have to teach ourselves? In an atmosphere where we’re definitely not welcome. I would have paid double NOT to go back.

You’re right, La Mano. You do have business problems, but the truly deadly ones have nothing to do with...

Without a doubt the biggest waste of time and money I've ever experienced. Paid over $350 for a class that had essentially no teacher?

Class time was spent 1. Listening to the teacher talk about herself and how great she was for 30 minutes straight. 2. Attempting to throw a cylinder with the only instruction being the teacher doing a 5-second demo that no beginner could possibly learn from. 3. Watching said teacher help only 3 very advanced students and wander off to god knows where. I eventually got so frustrated that I stopped coming after week 6. I genuinely thought it would be fun to learn a new craft, but now I never want to see a wheel again.

Oh, also- the teacher cancelled a class and then decided to make up for it by adding 15 minutes to the beginning and end of each class. She never even came to the first 15 minutes (surprise), and the last 15 minutes is essentially extra clean up time.

Please, whatever you do, if you decide to come to La Mano for class, do NOT take the Thursday night class and be sure to make the most of your studio time. That's the only time you're likely to learn anything. The front desk staff is extremely friendly, and they will help you during studio time if...

I’ve done three rounds of weekly wheel classes with La Mano. I was a little nervous after reading some of the reviews, but let me offer my perspective.

Wheel is incredibly difficult to learn! Try to be patient + kind to yourself. It took eight weeks for me to finally “enjoy” it.

La Mano classes are mixed level. This has pros/cons. Pro is that I can learn from others. Con for me was that I felt behind quite often at first.

Instructors have pretty different skills — nothing bad/good just different. Some are better at hands-on demos with you, while others are better at aesthetics. I recommend trying different sessions if you can to find an instructor who works for your needs at that time.

The studio managers are fabulous and the best ones to communicate with if you have issues.

It gets better! The studio doesn’t really “hand hold” you. Be insistent when you need help, don’t be afraid to ask others what they’re working on/tips, and stick with it at least for two go-rounds if you can.

(Photos are examples of where I started at the first session to where I ended after a...