Entry No. 30 — the Providence file — filed under: glassblowing
Gather Glass Blowing Studio
Benny Giguere put in twelve years as a glassblower in Vermont before opening this hot shop with high-school friend Matt Stone at the far, untouristed end of Atwells Avenue. One-hour classes seat just four people, ages eight and up, and the project list is long: blown ornaments, paperweights, glass mushrooms, pumpkins, pint glasses, wavy bowls, even flameworked marbles, with pre-mixed Rhode Island color palettes like "RIDOT" orange-and-white and "Blizzard of '78" blue-and-white. Giguere works the bench with you while the adjoining Gather Cafe & Ice Cream Bar at 519 Atwells looks on through a shared glass wall — the same operation runs a farm in Johnston that supplies the creamery, and a combined "Fire and Ice" session pairs 2,100-degree glass with liquid-nitrogen ice cream. The studio saw about 350 visitors its first year; by 2025 it was over 9,000.
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The story
Benny Giguere had been blowing glass for twelve years when he moved from Vermont to Providence around 2010, having decided Rhode Island was where he wanted to put the work. He and a high-school friend, Matt Stone, turned it into a business, and for the first six-plus years that business had no building: a mobile furnace and a mobile flameworking unit, hauled out to WaterFire Providence, where Gather has now been a fixture for the better part of a decade. The Atwells Avenue storefront came in 2017. 'One of the reasons we named it Gather,' Giguere has said, 'was because the goal is to bring in more of the public and offer experiences.'
521 Atwells sits at the far western end of the avenue, past where Federal Hill restaurant traffic gives out, with free parking in the lot behind the building off Harris Ave. Inside is a working hot shop, a gallery of finished pieces, and a glass infinity tunnel built as a nod to Kusama. Classes run one hour, cap at four people, and start at age eight. Ornaments, paperweights, flowers and mushrooms are $75; drinking glasses, pint glasses, pumpkins, vases and wavy bowls are $85; flameworked marbles and beads are $120. A four-week Introduction to Glassblowing runs $500, and a $400 private memorial session will fold a teaspoon of ashes into the piece.
The operation has grown two more heads. Gather Farm in Johnston runs a CSA on organic and regenerative practice, with goats tended by Aidan Simmons, a twelfth-generation dairy farmer; its apiary and lavender are largely why the ice cream exists. Gather Cafe and Ice Cream Bar opened next door at 519 Atwells in July 2025, sharing a glass wall with the hot shop so people holding cones can watch the class sweat. The studio drew about 350 participants its first year; by 2025 it was past 9,000.
What it's like
You get a bench, a gaffer working alongside you, and one hour that moves faster than you expect. You pick colors, take the pipe, blow into 2,100-degree glass and learn the shaping while an instructor keeps the piece alive. Four people per session means it is genuinely hands-on rather than a demo with audience participation, and ages eight and up means a kid can do it, with the heat and the tools taken seriously throughout. Dress for a hot shop: closed-toe shoes, natural fibers, hair tied back, nothing you love. Then walk twenty feet next door to the cafe, where the bar is stocked and the glass wall gives you a live view of the next four people discovering how heavy a blowpipe is.
The move: Reserve two seats in a one-hour evening session through the Peek booking links on gatherglass.com — one of you blows a glass mushroom, the other a pint glass — then walk next door to Gather Cafe for liquid-nitrogen ice cream and watch the next class sweat through the glass wall.
📍 Before you go Classes book through Peek links on the studio site and cap at four people per session, ages 8 and up; most projects run $75-85 per person, flameworking $120. Free parking behind the building off Harris Ave.
- 📍 Providence
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 521 Atwells Ave, Providence, RI 02909
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- The Steel Yard — Literally around the corner on Sims Ave, and the heavyweight version of the same impulse: a nonprofit industrial-arts campus teaching welding, blacksmithing and foundry casting, where a one-night bottle-opener class runs $150.
- Dirt Palace Storefront Window Gallery — Under a mile downhill in Olneyville Square, free and viewable at any hour — a glassed-in installation window re-hung monthly by a feminist art collective that has held the old public library since 2000.
- The Avery — Six-tenths of a mile away on Luongo Memorial Square, with a carved dark-wood bar under tin ceilings and a lit patio out back; the natural place to sit down once your forearms register what an hour on the pipe costs.
More weird in Providence
Good to know
What can I actually make, and what does it cost?
One-hour projects: blown ornaments, a paperweight, a glass flower or a glass mushroom at $75; a drinking glass, pint glass, pumpkin, handblown vase or wavy bowl at $85. Flameworked marbles, beads and flowers are $120. The four-week Introduction to Glassblowing course is $500.
How many people fit, and can kids do it?
Four per session, ages eight and up. Book through the Peek links on gatherglass.com or contact the studio directly; the cafe and studio together hold up to 60 for a private party.
Where do I park on Atwells?
Free parking behind the building, off Harris Ave. The studio is at 521 Atwells at the western end of Federal Hill, past the stretch where street parking becomes a competitive sport.
Can we do the glass and the ice cream in one visit?
That's the Fire and Ice session — glass at 2,100 degrees on one side of the wall, ice cream at minus 321 on the other. The standalone ice cream class is $70 a head for about an hour and sends you home with a pint; Fire and Ice books through a form on the site.
Do they do anything beyond classes?
Live demos at WaterFire Providence off the mobile furnace, custom branded glassware for nonprofit fundraising, memorial pieces, and an online store. Ten percent of every drinking glass sold goes to organizations working on homelessness, hunger, health, the environment and peace.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · rimonthly.com
last checked: 2026-08-25