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Third Degree Glass Factory co-founder Doug Auer removes prepares to work with molten glass from a furnace.
Brian Kreitner, a laborer at Third Degree Glass Factory, looks down at broken pieces of glass in the floodwater after a door holding back the water gave way and water rushed into the glass art studio knocking over displays and shattering artwork on Thursday, July 28, 2022.
Daniel Neman is a retail business writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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Less than three months ago, water from the second flash flood to hit the area stood two to three feet deep in the Third Degree Glass Factory.
Destruction was everywhere. The water knocked over the wooden stands that the studio’s glass art stood on, and tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of art was shattered.
Brian Kreitner, a laborer at Third Degree Glass Factory, surveys flood damage after torrential rainfall hit on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Video by David Carson, Post-Dispatch
Now the for-profit art space is back and as good as new, almost. This month, it celebrates its 20th anniversary.
For a while in July, it looked like that might not happen.
“The flood itself was devastating, but what I was pleased with was the community that we had been building showed up to help,” said co-founder Doug Auer.
The first night after the flood, 30 people — glass blowers, enthusiasts and others — showed up to help clean up, he said. Thirty more came in the next few days. By the end of the week, he said, you couldn’t even tell there had been a flood.
Third Degree is a collaboration between Auer and Jim McKelvey — McKelvey is the guy who co-founded Square (now Block, Inc.) who isn’t Jack Dorsey. Their shared interest in glass art led them to open a space where people could come together to create and sell glass objects.
But education has always been an integral part of the business model, too. They hold classes in glass blowing and also give demonstrations.
The process of melting glass in a 2,000-degree furnace, turning, shaping and blowing a hot, molten orange blob into a recognizable shape — always with the possibility of it breaking — can be a lot of fun to watch.
“This stuff is fascinating,” said Auer, whose passion for the process still runs as hot as a kiln.
When Third Degree first began its Third Friday events, it would hold glass-blowing demonstrations for 50 or 60 people. Now, they get 300 to 400 — and before the pandemic, they would regularly see 600 or more.
“People love glass,” Auer said.
Artists can rent their equipment, including furnaces and everything needed to make glass objects, for an hourly rate. Some are able to sell their works at the Third Degree gallery — that’s where the glass was broken during the flood.
The art studio is one vital part of the business, and the education and entertainment aspect is another important side of it. But perhaps most people are introduced to Third Degree by attending a wedding or a banquet held there, or a meeting or a conference.
“Arguably, we’re an event venue with a glass studio attached, not a glass studio with an event venue,” Auer said.
“All of the things we do feed each other. When we have an event with 200 people, they come in and see the glass in the gallery.”
They might not buy the glass immediately, he said, though they often will. But they may decide to stop in later for a demonstration, or they might want to explore their creative side by taking a class.
Many of the people whose art they sell in the gallery began with one of their classes. Some are now full-time glass artists.
With success comes growth, and Third Degree has become a sprawling, 8,000 square-foot building. The company first started in the oldest section, a gas station from what Auer thinks was the 1910s. Additions were built and other buildings taken over; most recently, a conference room was added and a permanent new bar for events was built.
Auer said they chose the location with intent. Third Degree is located on Delmar Boulevard between the Central West End and the Delmar Loop. They thought those thriving areas would eventually grow toward each other and meet in the middle, where the studio is.
That projection has not yet panned out, although the Delmar Loop area is unmistakably expanding eastward. So the Third Degree folks are doing what they can for the area by creating what they call the Delmar Maker District.
The idea is to attract artists and artisans to the area, providing a sense of community and creating a destination for shoppers and tourists.
Made Makerspace has already set up shop, offering artisans training in and the use of dozens of types of equipment, from lathes to arc welders to a quilter and embroiderer. Just above it is an offshoot of the Magic House, where children can learn how to sculpt in clay, use a 3-D printer or paint on a digital easel.
And down the street is the new location of the Craft Alliance, where local artists sell their wares and offer classes and workshops.
“The 20 years of Third Degree has led to all of these things,” Auer said.
Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.
Daniel Neman is a retail business writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
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Third Degree Glass Factory co-founder Doug Auer removes prepares to work with molten glass from a furnace.
Brian Kreitner, a laborer at Third Degree Glass Factory, looks down at broken pieces of glass in the floodwater after a door holding back the water gave way and water rushed into the glass art studio knocking over displays and shattering artwork on Thursday, July 28, 2022.
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