HI Tech Glass Designs

I hate to be the first to leave a negative comment, but I just want to share my experience from a couple months ago that I haven’t had a chance to share yet. I went into the shop one day, interested in getting a custom glass piece done for my boyfriend for our anniversary gift. The glass blower wasn’t in at the time, so I spoke to a guy who was watching over the shop. He wrote down a couple notes about what I was hoping to get, the size, design, colors and so on… quoted me that my piece would probably run about $ 180 – 200, which I was fine with… then continued to jot down my contact info and told me that they would have the glass blower contact me within a day or two to confirm my order.
Okay, so a two days went by, and then a week… so I decided to stop by the shop again. Again, the glass blower wasn’t in so I spoke to a girl who was working there. I asked to check up on my order… and after a couple minutes of her looking for it, said that it wasn’t in their file. So again, I had to go over my specifications while she wrote them all down. Told me that I would be hearing from them soon.
On my way home, about 30 mins from leaving the shop, I received a phone call from the glass blower saying that he received my order and that I would have to come back in person to put down a deposit. Told him I would be in the next day.
Next day comes, I go back to the shop… again no glass blower so I talk to another employee. He reconfirms my design with me, then tells me my order totaled $ 300. What the heck? How did my quote jump from $ 180 to $ 300? Whatever… I was excited about the potential about this gift and decided to go along with it. I paid my deposit, and he told me my order should be done in about 2 weeks. Great… perfect timing because my anniversary was in 2.5 weeks. I left there really stoked that I had come up with such an awesome gift idea.
So about two weeks go by, and I finally get a phone call… thinking that my piece is ready for pick up. Wrong! I get a call from them, apologizing that they’ve been busy, they’ve just started my order and that it will be ready soon. Two days later, I get a call to come and pick up my piece. I’m thinking to myself… okay great, a piece that I was quoted would take about 2 weeks to create was now made in two days.
I go in to pick it up… glass blower isn’t in, of course… so I talk to that same girl from the second day. She tries to hype me up, saying my piece turned out so cute… Um, hello? It’s not meant to be cute… remember it’s not for me, it’s for my BOYFRIEND. I was in a rush so I looked at it for a second before she wrapped it up in bubble wrap, I paid my balance and left.
Later, I go home to inspect it to notice the size was smaller than I had previously requested, the craftsmanship was not impressive at all compared to their quality work that was on display, they added «cute» little dots and spirals, and the down stem was practically touching the bottom of the beaker. Ugh… there was nothing I could do. My anniversary was the next day. Anyways, I ended up giving my gift… knowing I had already gone through so much just to get it. My boyfriend appreciated my effort, and does use it… but it is not what I wanted or what I intended to spend so much money on. For $ 300, I could’ve got something awesome, which is what this was suppose to be. Definitely a lesson learned… and I don’t know if this is just an isolated incident but I was just so frustrated with the whole process that I can’t bare to waste another minute of my life on this business. Sorry, potential customers please beware.

Such a cool idea of allowing the consumer to view how the products they are about to buy are made. The inside reminds me of a art gallery, the walls are full of glass and drawn art. One piece that caught my eye was the pink net looking thing that was consuming a person. I turned around and inside the glass cases were some of the coolest pipes, bubblers, and chillims. Each peace is made slightly different. My favorite is the no spill bubbler. Its one of those one of a kind i have to have it pieces. The prices are very fair too, its cheaper because its made either in that shop or on Maui. The employees are also very friendly and knowledgeable. This place is a must if your visiting or even if you live there.

This is a NEW Art and Glass Shop in Kaimuki conveniently located on Waialae Ave. This is the ONLY glass shop I know of that takes custom orders for ANYTHING your little heart desires, and the talented artists go at it right in the shop where you can watch as the torches and the artists hands melt glass into shapes you never would have thought possible. All of the pieces are created HERE on this Island in this shop… Nothing is shipped here from over seas… which means you aren’t paying for any shipping costs. The prices here are always LESS than any other glass shop on the Island. Every piece is completely ingenious. You will never find two pieces alike. And you have chances to meet the artists in person!!! Completely blows my mind!!!
Along side of all the innovative smoke contraptions, the artists also have some art deco style pieces for your kitchen, bed room, family room such as vases, wine glasses, mugs, shot glasses of all shapes and sizes!!!
They also showcase some original hand made jewelry items from local artists ready for purchase as well!!!
I have used this shop for a couple birthday gifts already and have been completely satisfied as were the gift — receivers!

On a late evning stroll down Waialae, the last thing I expected to see was the bright glow of a torch — a man standing behind a large picture window at the back of a beautiful modern gallery store blowing glass into some fantastical creation. I was literally drawn through the door like a moth to a flame.
After being mesmerized for quite a while staring through the window at the action I realized a large piece on the wall — an intricate piece made to look like coral in the shape of a shell — hell as i’m trying to wrap my brain around how to say the words to describe this piece, i’ll just show you: it’s amazing.
They also have beautiful vases and home décor pieces displayed, priced decently for the amount of work and detail you can tell have gone into each unique piece.
The other side of the store contains cases of … pipes for… tobacco i’m sure. One of the artists explained the pieces are really well priced — since I am not a smoker, I can’t really vouch for that but if you need these appliances, they have lots of cool ones in all kinds of sizes and types. There’s even this giant eyeball shaped one — although I’m pretty sure this is just for arts’ sake:
If you get a chance, check this store out, I think it’s a great addition to the Waialae scene, I like the eclectic mix Kaimuki now has with some modern and trendy stores like this and restaurants popping up amongst the older establishments — it’s becoming a more exciting and interesting street to peruse!
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