'Come make something cool with us': Say It With Glass art studio opens in Carrboro

Say It With Glass — a stained glass art studio, gallery and event space — opened in Carrboro’s South Green shopping center in late September.

Owner Sam Nguyen said the studio offers beginner workshops, kids’ classes and an art bar that hosts seasonal projects open to all customers without reservation. Interested customers can also purchase memberships for $99/month, which allow members to utilize studio space and tools anytime during operating hours. 

Several glass artists from throughout the country have their glasswork — both stained and blown glass — featured for purchase in the store, Nguyen said. Say It With Glass is also one of the only two places on the east coast that sells Fremont glass, she said, which is an antique sheet glass that is hand blown.

Nguyen said she picked up glass work as a hobby after her husband broke one of their kitchen windows. Afterward, she said it led her to start a mobile workshop for beginner-level projects she originally hosted in areas including Mebane, Durham and Carrboro.

"It is the best workshop for people wanting to just try it, get their feet wet, explore how to make something with stained glass and decide if it's something that they want to keep [doing]," she said. "That evolved to people being like 'Wow, this is great. Let's keep doing this.’"

Then, after hosting open studio spaces in her home, Nguyen said she began to look for a proper studio to establish Say It With Glass. While the initial vision was to just have a studio space, she said that vision expanded into a gallery and community space.

Nguyen said she chose Say It With Glass's location in Carrboro to ensure that it was close to her home and family, but also wanted its location to help revitalize the South Green shopping center and provide a community gathering space for Carrboro. 

"Being able to contribute to [Carrboro's] community of appreciating small business and bringing people together, and having this be a third space in the Carrboro community is definitely a big pull," Paige Carpenter, an employee and artist at Say it With Glass, said. 

Shelby Smith-Janey, a customer of Say It With Glass, said her favorite aspect of the studio is being able to learn a new creative skill while also meeting new people through the classes. 

"I feel like, not only is it a space for people that want to go and be creative, but [Nguyen] is really trying to make it welcoming for people of all ages and abilities," she said.  

Nguyen said she wants the studio to provide a third space for community members that is not work or their house, and instead somewhere they can just exist with one another and make connections.

As a neurodivergent person, Nguyen also said she especially wanted to provide an accessible space for other neurodivergent community members.

“We will accept you, [whoever] you are — come make something cool with us,” she said.

Nguyen said the primary goals for Say It With Glass' first year are to build a healthy business, grow membership and share the art of glass work with as many people as possible.

“It kind of moved from this glassy little workshop to this movement of gathering people to make something together” she said. “It just so happened to be glass art.”

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