“Glassblowing is a divisive craft,” says Matthew Cummings, the owner of Knoxville, Tennessee-based Pretentious Beer Glass Company. “When you have your first lesson and they open up the door to the 2,100°F furnace, you either shrink away from it or your eyes light up and you walk towards it. There’s no middle ground.” For Matthew, this definitive moment arrived his junior year of college, and the attraction was instant. “The furnace and the heat just immediately drew me in—I was hooked.” An architect in training, he changed his major that semester. “And that’s what I’ve done for the last 15 years—no looking back, no regrets. I knew it’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
What he didn’t know at the time was how exactly he’d manage to make a living of it. And it wasn’t until a buddy in his local bottle share club talked him into making a custom hoppy beer glass that this university-trained glass sculptor and craft brew enthusiast started to put the pieces together. Recognizing a gap in the market for glasses designed with craft beers in mind, Matthew began sketching out a plan for a bespoke hand-blown line. “I thought: I’m a glass artist and I love craft beer. Maybe this is something I’m uniquely qualified to take on.” His hunch paid off big, providing Matthew with the funds to open not only his own glassblowing studio—a notoriously cost-prohibitive undertaking—but also a craft beer bar and brewery in the 1890’s Old City storefront next door. All without taking out a single loan.
“Five years ago, if you’d asked me if I ever thought I could have my own glass blowing studio, or if I could open up a brewery, I would have said absolutely not,” says Matthew. “I literally didn’t dream that big. So to get to this point now, it’s not even a dream come true. It’s like a dream you didn’t dare to dream that comes true.”
We joined Matthew for a typical day to see what that dream looks like in action.

Fellow Knoxville business owner, Jeffrey, houses his restaurant’s smoker in the backyard of Matthew’s studio.
7am Up and at ‘em
I’ve got a two-year-old son, Logan, so we get up by 7:00 or 7:30. We are not morning people whatsoever—he gets it from me. My wife Stephanie is a total morning person, but Logan and I typically sleep in until the last possible second, and then we get up and it’s a full mad rush. But I get to spend some time with him before I take him to day care, and it’s the best part of my day. He hangs out on my lap and we watch cartoons and eat some Cheerios together. It’s our family time.
9:30am BFF brunch
One of my really good friends, Jeffrey, owns a brunch spot called OliBea a few doors down from the studio. That’s where I head most mornings—it starts my work day in a stress-free spot. They opened up about the same time that we arrived in Knoxville, but it took a while for Jeffrey and I to actually get to talk to each other—we were kind of like ships in the night for a while. But once we started hanging out, that was it: BFFs for life. Owning a small business is incredibly hard, and it’s nice to have a friend who understands the trials and stresses that you go through.
Jeffrey keeps the smoker for OliBea in the backyard of our studio, so we see each other every day, multiple times a day. He does everything himself: makes his own bacon, pork loin, everything. He also makes the bar snacks for our bar. He makes pimiento cheese with handmade tortilla chips—it’s the South, so pimiento cheese is a staple—and we also do a rotating popcorn. Right now it’s rosemary sage popcorn, and all the herbs are from a garden I’ve been growing out on our patio.

Matthew’s glass sculptures on display in the hot shop. Before founding Pretentious, he made his living as a gallery artist.
11am Daily ritual
I hoard books—real books. I’m not a fan of electronic copies. And I developed a practice right after grad school that I still use to this day: I have a small table in my office right beside the door, and two glass books are always open on it. Every day when I walk into the shop, I open each book to a random page. It always exposes me to something beautiful and unexpected.
11:30am Go time
There’s a saying in glass that Europeans design things 20 times and then make one object, and Americans design one thing and then make 20. I’m much more on the design-heavy end of the spectrum—I have to plan everything out before I get into the hot shop. I like to go in with a bunch of thumbnails for different ideas of what I could make, but I don’t do full sketches because the glass has so much personality on its own and I always want to acknowledge that. Glassblowing is a collaborative process—not just between you and your assistant, but also with yourself and the material. The material wants to make something a certain way, and your job as the craftsperson is to listen to it and work with it. If the material tells me it wants to do something a little bit different, I try to stay open.
I’ve got several really good glass assistants that take care of most of our standard production, so when I’m blowing glass, typically it’s for custom orders or new designs. I’ll also make some of the limited-edition glasses, as well as our newest glasses—I like to run those myself for a little while until I figure out the fastest, most efficient way to make them. There’s one glass that we just launched called the Master Series that takes about two hours to make. These feature a technique that was invented by Archimede Seguso in the ’50s—it’s one of the most beautiful patterns that I think you can make in glass.

The local farmers market provides endless ingredient inspiration for inventive beer, soda, and kombucha recipes.

Inspecting brewing equipment. Matthew and his team will start serving their own beers later this month.
3pm Inspiration meets tradition
Our local farmers market is the central point for my beer, soda, and kombucha making practice, as well as a weekly family tradition. Every Saturday, Stephanie, Logan, and I go to the farmers market for the week’s groceries. We love to cook, and enjoy the challenge of using seasonal produce for dinner. And on the professional side, this tradition has facilitated friendships that change how I think about beverages.
Take Jim Smith, for example: He owns Rushy Springs Farm and is an expert in growing and fermenting peppers. I first met him through his hot sauces—he makes about 15 different kinds and I love them all—and then he started swinging by the bar and letting me taste his different pepper varieties. Because of that friendship, I’m now developing a plethora of pepper flavored beers and kombuchas.
5pm To the bar
At the moment, I spend a lot of time just managing the bar and working toward opening the brewery later this month—not so sexy, but it’s the stuff you’ve got to do. But what I most enjoy right now is getting all of the recipes lined up for when we’ll start brewing. I’ve been a home brewer for almost five years now, and I think brewing is as much of a craft as any traditional form of art. When I was opening up the studio here and I had no access to glassblowing for a year, brewing beer and being creative with the recipes fulfilled me as an artist.
Today, I have two co-brewers, and I do the recipe development. Once the brewery is up and running, our bar will be the only place I know of where you can come in and drink beer made in-house out of glasses made in-house and watch everything being produced. You’ll be able to come in and talk to the brewer and ask him what’s been made today, and then you can go next door and watch people make the glasses you’re drinking out of.
6:30pm Last call
If have a minute, I’ll head over to another local brewery, Alliance Brewing Company. The owners there are some of my best friends in town, and they make absolutely frigging amazing beer. The first time I met the team was at a big Knoxville brew fest. I started hanging out with them, and got to watch the whole process of them building out their brewery, which was the first nano-brewery to open in Knoxville. I designed and built some tables for their space, and their bar became my spot for afternoon breaks when I need to get away from the studio.
I’ve gotten busier and busier, but I still try to swing by Alliance every Monday—they’re closed that day, so it’s like having a private drinking club. We hang out and talk about beer and geek out on recipes—what’s been working, what new IPA they’re doing. The main owners have become like family. That’s the wonderful thing: There’s no line between work and life in Knoxville. Here in the Old City, all the people I work with are my best friends.
Photographs by Kelsey Prater.
30 comments
renee and gerardo from GTDesigns said 3 years ago
This has been one of my favorite shops for a long time - already!! Congrats!! Beautiful work.... extraordinary gifting pieces to be treasured!
cindy Q. from mrsakarn said 3 years ago
What an amazing story! First of all, you have a lovely family. Secondly, the way you described making your creations gave me goose bumps. The way that you've learned to appreaciate and respect the art of what you do, takes someone to really care about what they are crafting. It takes someone with great insight to bring glass to life, and you are doing it!!! Really nice work!!! Congrats and much success with your business, CQ
Sujata from TreasuredMemoryLane said 3 years ago
Very cool glasses! Congratulations on the feature!
Doris Sherley from GiftsbyDorisSherley said 3 years ago
wow.. Congratulations on the feature!
DeUno from DeUno said 3 years ago
Beautiful work! Love the beer glases! Congratulations on the feature!
Rhonda Stubbs from RhondaCorner said 3 years ago
Great story! Love your art. Best of luck to you.
Tim and Brigita Cornwell from jacobswoodentoys said 3 years ago
Great story and an amazing product! All the best of success to you.
Maria from StyleGraphicDesign said 3 years ago
Very intresting!
Kashuen Collectibles from Kashuen said 3 years ago
It looks like someone is having a very good life. I would love to see my own reaction when the door of that 2,100°F furnace open. Great story.
Cathy from msbijouxbeads said 3 years ago
Lovely story and shop, those glasses are works of art, very beautiful, thanks for this feature!
Nicole from KarmaCodeOne said 3 years ago
Oh my gosh ~ how beautiful the feature. Start to finish, very nice ! Cheers to much continued success. A new FaVorItE !
Jennifer Tyson from LadyInPurpleBoutique said 3 years ago
Wonderful story, congrats on the feature Matthew! Your glasses are such beautiful works of art!
TropicalGarden from TropicalGarden said 3 years ago
Inspiring story and amazing glass work! Congratulation on the feature!
Dara Barth from Bumbleweedz said 3 years ago
Gosh! How cool and creative! Love.
Sherri from ButterflyFeetDigital said 3 years ago
Nice story and shop, congrats on the feature!
Elena from BetulaPainting said 3 years ago
Thank you for the post! Great story. Congratulation on the feature!
Bozhena Fuchs from FuchsArtStudio said 3 years ago
That's a great story!
Debra Gilstrap from gilstrapdesigns said 3 years ago
Great feature!!! You have a really nice shop with all of your beautiful glasses. Much continued success!!
Binish from BinishDesigns said 3 years ago
That name is priceless! Awesome.
Bren from bstudio said 3 years ago
Beautiful and unique pieces, keep up the good work!
Anna from FairyToysWorld said 3 years ago
Great story! and very beautiful glasses! His smile says "I love what I do")
greta myers from ionanthe said 3 years ago
Beautiful work !
Kimiko Stallard from BinglesBanglesBabies said 3 years ago
The skill involved here is just astounding, kudos to you, you are extremely talented!
Pardar Chia from NaturaSilver said 3 years ago
Bravo to this inspiring story! Congratulations for your feature. :)
Rada Danilovic from RadArtaDesign said 3 years ago
Great story! Congrats!
Vicki A from thriftyvicki said 3 years ago
Neat story - Really neat shop :)
Julie Anderson from JKAndersonCeramics said 3 years ago
Wonderful story! I am forwarding this to my husband who dabbles in glass work, but currently works with stone countertops in the building trades. He calls it "stuck between a rock and a glass place". Maybe this article will light a fire (or a glass furnace) for him . Thanks so much!
Nina Bezpyata from TheWonderlandofWool said 3 years ago
Fantastic!!!
Ludmila Rozhdestvenskaya from CraftsmanShopUA said 3 years ago
extraordinary glasses...good luck in future work
Umesh Vigg from InspiringAbode said 121 days ago
Beautiful work !