- [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

It's one of the most unique art forms out there.

- This is just a really neat interactive experience.

- [Narrator] And, until the last few years, hadn't been available in Charlotte.

- This is the biggest city in the Carolinas, and it's got no glass scene here, like at all.

- [Narrator] But, the city rolled out the red carpet, welcoming them with open arms.

- The Chamber here, they encouraged us to come.

- [Narrator] It's become a real hit with visitors.

- It's one of the most unique experiences I think you can have in Charlotte.

- [Narrator] To the point where getting in is becoming difficult.

- We're booked all the way like to almost the end of the year already.

- [Narrator] And, its owner is someone who probably shouldn't even be here.

- And, we made funeral arrangements three times.

- [Narrator] So, what do you say?

Let's take a break from the daily routine and grind to go do something a little creative, and take a visit to Hot Glass Alley.

Hot Glass Alley is brought to you by the members of PBS Charlotte.

In some ways it's the crown jewel of Hot Glass Alley.

- This is the only one that I've ever seen of, like, chandelier Christmas tree.

- [Narrator] A piece so intricate, it took a full month to create.

- So, it's got 550 pieces of separate blown glass on it.

Surrounded like inside is a metal cage that they're attached to.

And, it's got an LED pole in the inside to interior light it.

- [Narrator] And, a real hit with visitors who come in.

- People come, like, all over 'cause it's been posted on social media and like things like that.

And, people that have come here talk about it, you gotta see this glass Christmas tree that they got, you know, and so people come here to specifically, just to see this, you know, or get their picture, you know, or whatever.

So, it's pretty much a huge staple here.

- [Narrator] Jake Pfeifer completed this masterpiece when he was just 17 years old, as a Christmas gift for his mother.

It's done in the same style that renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly made famous in the 70s.

But, cleaning it, that's a whole nother story.

- [Jake] And, so it takes like a couple of days for you to take it down, you know, and then clean everything, and put it all back together again.

- [Narrator] Hanging in the rafters nearby is the chandelier.

Done in the same style as the tree, it features constantly changing colored lights.

Out front in the gallery, you'll find a wide array of Jake's work, everything from elegant vases and glasses to scalved bowls and glass eggs, some with amazing details.

There's also items from his award-winning Treasures collection, and even unique items like golf putters.

Prices in the gallery range from $24 up to a few thousand.

On the backside of the building is the hot shop.

This is where all the magic happens, including demonstrations, Make Your Own workshops, and group outings.

- The demos are really fun, too.

Those, we won't make pieces that we've never tried before.

We've tried similar things to it, but we'll push ourselves just to see if we can do it, just to make something crazy.

And, it's fun for us to try something new and different and challenging.

- We're booked all the way like to almost the end of the year already.

It's really busy.

Like, it's a very popular event.

Um, we do it every other weekend, and then we have the date nights also every other weekend.

So, there's a lot going on.

- [Narrator] You may have noticed that Jake's voice is a little unique.

That's part of the aftereffects of a childhood illness.

We'll explain more on that coming up later.

- [Worker] Oh yeah, that is a pretty intense heat.

So from here, you look at the tip of the pipe, we're going to go in.

- [Narrator] Located in the NoDa section of Charlotte, Hot Glass Alley is the only hot spot in the area, bringing the mysterious art of glassmaking to the public.

- [Jake] Can you pull the water closer to me?

- [Narrator] Jake and other Hot Glass Alley employees show visitors how creating a glass piece, including the blowing, is done.

- And, you start out with just a piece of glass, and it becomes a bowl.

So, it's something that you'd never think that you could create yourself.

- Oh, it's real fun to watch them face, faces light up, because some people are a little intimidated by it.

They're a little scared, but then you get these people that are into it, and they just want to go for it and get it.

And, it's so fun to watch them ask me questions, bounce questions off me, so they can learn about the material.

- [Jake] So, that's just working together to create it, Try and move back and forth with me.

- It's really difficult to continue to turn the glass, and you don't realize how hot it is.

I had my sleeves rolled up, but even still, I had to rely on Jake a little bit, so I could step back, 'cause I wasn't used to just that sheer amount of heat hitting me in the face.

- Yeah, the guys here, I mean, they make it look like it's really easy to make an ornament.

It takes a lot of skill, and, uh, they made it really fun, though.

And it's pretty cool to see how the glass moves in the heat, how it changes and you kind of manipulate the glass.

And, it's pretty cool.

- This is just a really neat, interactive experience.

And they're so knowledgeable about what it is they're doing.

They're so personable, and you can tell that they're really passionate about what they do.

- First time I've ever did anything like this.

Uh, didn't know what to expect when we first got here.

Uh, we set it up as a team building thing, but, uh, it's really been fun.

These guys have worked with us, have a real, I mean, they have patience, uh, they know their business, and it was a real great experience.

- It's super fun to watch people just learn and have those aha moments, those epiphanies in their head, when they understand the material a little better, as I'm explaining to them, trying to build up a model of how the material works in their head.

And, I watch them, all those little lines connect, and they have an epiphany about how it works.

And, it's so fun to watch that.

- It's one of the most unique experiences I think you can have in Charlotte.

It's one of the cooler things that I've ever done here.

- [Narrator] With the growing popularity of the various workshops, as well as the commercial side of the business, Hot Glass Alley has grown from a two-person, family business of mother and son, to having eight employees and a couple of interns, all in the last few years.

- Going from just me by myself and my mom to now having 10 people underneath me and like a whole gallery staff that does their job, then we got the hot shop crew and it's a lot, you know, it's grown, it's grown pretty quick.

I couldn't do it by myself at this point.

You know, for a long time, like when I first started Hot Glass Alley, I was able to keep up with everything on my own and do it all by myself.

And, it's not that way anymore.

I rely heavily on, like, my team, and I have, I just learn how to delegate.

- [Narrator] Things have grown so big, so fast, that Jake is considering splitting Hot Glass Alley into two separate divisions, one side to handle the classes and workshops, the other to handle the commercial sales to places like hotels, hospitals, and other businesses.

- You can have a whole business on just one or the other, you know, we're doing both, so, eventually I'll divide it into being like, this is Hot Glass Alley's, like Make Your Own team, and this is the Hot Glass Alley's production team, and then there's gonna be like a whole gallery staff, too.

- [Narrator] As part of those expanded business plans, Jake wants to tear down the outside wall of the hot shop, and push it back into the parking lot, with the goal of doubling the size of the furnace area.

- So, take exactly what we have right now, which is about a 2,000 square foot space, and make it another 2,000 square foot space, and have the exact same layout and setup and everything.

- [Narrator] That would allow the business more flexibility in scheduling the Make Your Owns and other demonstrations in group outings.

- And, then another one thing that we want to do is either expand the gallery, or we would buy like a showroom somewhere like in Uptown, and, like, set up our own gallery there.

- [Narrator] Nobody is perfect.

- [Jake] A little more, a little more, oh my goodness, you're good, stay on, stay on, what are you doing?

You almost got it.

(woman laughing) - [Narrator] It's a saying we've all heard throughout our entire lives, but seeking perfection is what Hot Glass Alley owner Jake Pfeifer strives for with every piece he begins.

And, either things go well and according to plan, or they don't.

- There is no in-between.

- [Narrator] Jake knows this, firsthand.

- Those days are forever embedded in my mind.

- Before it happened, I remember my tongue would be like hurt, and like it'd be swollen.

- He kept waking up in the evening with headaches, and during the night, at five years old, he would wake up and say he had a headache, I have a headache.

- [Narrator] At first, doctors thought it was nothing more than a sinus issue, but those headaches, persisted.

- [Sonya] We did CAT scans and MRIs.

- And, then one morning I woke up then like I had that huge tumor on my face.

- He put his fingers into Jake's mouth.

And, on the left side, a mass had dropped into between his gum and his cheek.

And, it turned out he had a very high grade rhabdomyosarcoma that set down behind his left eye, but it had had fingers, and it had already penetrated through the skull, and was moving into his brain.

(somber music) - [Narrator] Just five years old, stage three inoperable cancer.

Jake was given just a five percent chance to see his eighth birthday.

- Well, I'll be frank, I freaked out.

- I knew I was really sick and that they were like, oh, well, you're like on the good guy cell team, and you're fighting like the bad guy cells, which are, is what they called the cancer cells.

- Yeah, it was, it was horrible because the oncologist told us that he likely would not survive this.

- [Narrator] In and out of the hospital for well over a year.

- Felt like forever.

- [Narrator] And, treated with a lifetime dose of radiation to his head and three different types of chemotherapy.

- My dad would, like, sneak in like fast food, which they were like, oh, you're not supposed to have that.

And, I just knew I was really sick and I didn't feel good, and they wouldn't let me go home.

- [Narrator] His parents, both working in the healthcare profession, did all they could to keep a sense of normalcy around the house, even though there was nothing normal about it.

- Part of that is because Michael and I are in the helping profession.

And, we have seen other families come apart with something like this.

Um, and we have seen other kids become, feel like they're entitled, you know, because they've had a rough childhood.

- You know, a lot of kids didn't quite understand it.

Like, why I looked different.

- On the days that we were home, I would put all of his IVs and everything in a backpack, a little backpack and put them on his shoulders, put on knee pads, elbow pads, wrist pads, a helmet, and I would say, now you go on out there and play with your friends.

I'm sorry you have to wear all this stuff, but go play basketball, go do what you would ordinarily do.

He had to clean up his room.

He had to, you know, do all the things that the other kids did.

- And, then they made it, it was like normal as possible, like even when I was in the hospital, like they'd wheel in this huge thing and let me play video games on it and stuff, and I'd bring my own games and get to play 'em that way.

It was great, you know.

(chuckles) - [Narrator] But, at one point during all that chemo and radiation, Jake became so ill he was sent on a Make-A-Wish trip with his family.

They thought the end was near.

- And, we made funeral arrangements three times.

- [Narrator] While his family worried about him, Jake couldn't help but think about the other kids in the hospital, all facing the same challenge.

- And, I remember a lot of them dying, you know, which was, that's the hard part for me.

It's like these kids, I knew their names and their faces, and they didn't make it, and I did.

So, I am like, why am I the one that made, you know, like, it's not, it's just not fair, you know.

And, so that's, it's called survivor's guilt, and that's something that I have now that I can't really get rid of.

- [Narrator] Slowly, miraculously, little Jake's body started responding to the aggressive treatment.

The tumor began to shrink.

- By the time we were finished with the chemotherapy, the, uh, the tumor had pulled back out of his brain.

- I would have to go back like maybe once, twice a month to get checked on.

It would take like all day, do all these crazy tests, CAT scans, MRIs, visit this guy, get blood drawn, get this done.

- It never started to grow again.

I think only by the grace of God, and his brilliant medical team, is he here.

- When I stop having to do all of that, it was kind of when I was like, yes!

(chuckles) - He is one of very few kids who have this type of cancer that has survived.

- [Narrator] At 13, two years before he was officially declared cancer-free, Jake went on a family vacation.

- It all started in Bermuda.

- [Narrator] When something grabbed his attention.

- Then, when he saw glassblowing, I mean, it was a sparkle in his eye.

- Watch these guys literally like pull this molten material out of this huge thing on the end of a stick, and then add all these colors and then shape it, manipulate it, and I'm like, is this like for real, like, this is like something out of like a Sci-Fi fantasy movie or something.

And, I just sat there and I remember asking them like every question under the sun.

I'm sure they were just like, get your kid outta here.

- [Narrator] Jake knew from that very moment what he wanted to do with his life.

- [Jake] So I felt like, it was just like, dude, I got like a second chance to like do whenever I want.

- And, when we got home, he said to Michael, "I want to learn how to do this."

And we, you know, we thought it was a passing thing, but, he, Michael found a place for him to go and he has never looked back.

- [Narrator] Jake went off to college, earning his bachelor's degree in fine arts.

For his graduate project, he wanted to make the perfect Veronese vase.

Unsuccessful on multiple attempts, he came up with an idea.

Use the discarded pieces as part of the project, putting those underneath with the finished perfect version on top.

His theme, perseverance, persistence, perfection, sorta like his own life.

- We are beyond thrilled that he's able to, that he was able to find what he loved, and that he is now able to do it.

- [Narrator] Beating cancer against seemingly insurmountable odds, it's no wonder Jake has survivor's instincts.

He's had some side effects from all that he's been through.

All that radiation limited his growth, but he continues to push forward.

- He has a chronic sinusitis, um, that he takes medicine for all the time.

- So I've had like a bunch of sinus surgeries, like five or six of them.

And, I've had total mouth, like all my teeth have been replaced, 'cause like the radiation just like destroyed the enamel on the teeth.

So, there was nothing there for them to protect it, plus the roots didn't grow, so like it was just bad.

- He had dental implants put in, and they were able to rebuild his mouth and his smile, and now he's doing great with that.

- [Narrator] Now years removed from all that he endured, Jake has come to terms with his cancer journey, and is, for the most part, okay talking about it.

But, even to this day, being around sick kids is simply too emotional.

- I have a hard time talking about it.

Like I probably haven't talked about this much in a really long time, you know, um, and especially if like, you know, they're like, oh, we want you to meet our son or daughter, and I'm like, don't, I can't.

Like, I just, it just gets really hard.

It's really hard if I have to like see it, you know, um, like even now I feel my eyes just like watering up from just talking about it.

- [Narrator] Tattooed across his chest and down onto his arm is the Greek mythical bird the Phoenix, which according to legend, rose from the fire and ashes to be born again.

It's fitting for Jake, as it represents all that he's been through.

- It never really dies.

You know, it like will go through like a lot and then it will like come back in like a whole new thing.

And, that's kinda how I felt about it, it was like, I was able to deal with all of that and like get through it.

I play with fire all day, too.

It's just always been like a symbol since I was like a kid after that.

- [Narrator] An unlikely survivor, making the most of his second chance while living out his passion.

- All right.

So there's the clear molten glass, and we'll roll it through red.

- [Narrator] When you think of glass, you likely think of something hard and breakable.

- But, it's still, like, mega hot.

It would burn the heck out of both of us.

- [Narrator] Not something soft and meltable.

- And, this will stay hot at around 2200 degrees Fahrenheit.

- [Narrator] But as it's being made, that's exactly what glass is.

- There's all these different little moves and steps and teamwork and communication.

And, it's like, super dangerous.

Beautiful.

Stop right there.

Perfect.

- [Narrator] It's certainly something you don't see every day, but may have seen in the movies.

- Wow.

Look at these.

- It's what happens to the sand when it's struck by lightning.

- [Narrator] In the 2002 romantic comedy "Sweet Home, Alabama", it's implied that you can make glass by harnessing lightning into sand.

While kind of true, heat produced by a lightning strike can turn sand particles into a cone or a root-shaped object, it doesn't really work that way.

- You're the first boy I ever kissed, Jake.

And, I want you to be the last.

- Baby, you and I had our chance.

- [Narrator] In the movie, actress Reese Witherspoon's love interest is named Jake.

As it turns out, Jake is a pretty fitting name, as it's also the name of Hot Glass Alley owner, Jake Pfeifer.

- I've always set a goal, and then I go and get it.

- [Narrator] Known as a glassblower, glass worker or a lamp worker, Jake uses the skills he's developed over many years to create some amazing pieces.

And, they each start out as just a little tiny piece of glass.

- This is like colored glass, it's called enamel white.

And, so I just get it into like this little gumdrop shape.

- [Narrator] Jake's goal on this day, to create a pumpkin.

He takes us through the step-by-step process.

- And, so there it is.

And, I'll turn that into our pumpkin.

But, I'm going to start with that, and then I get clear glass over it.

So, you got a little gumdrop.

Boop.

So, I got our next layer of clear glass on there.

Shape it up a little bit on the marver table here.

Then, I'm going to use a wooden block made out of cherry wood, it's just soaked in water.

This kinda gets me into a more uniform shape and kind of like lets it settle up a little bit, so it's not out of control on me.

For right now it's all just solid glass.

I got that white core and then clear over it.

And, then now is when I'm gonna put the air into it for the first time.

So, like, it's called capping the pipe.

I blow through it, put my thumb on the end and then my bubble expands right there.

Here we go.

- [Guest] You don't even have to blow a lot.

You just did a little bit.

- Man, just a very little bit.

And, it's so hot that it doesn't take a lot of pressure.

So I'm just getting it back into a more uniform shape again, so I can get more glass on top of this.

I'm gonna get another layer of clear.

I mean, I could make a really small pumpkin here, but I want to make one a little bit bigger, so I'm going to get another layer of clear glass.

So, in order for them, yeah, so in order to get bigger, I gotta keep building up these layers of clear.

And, so you can see the white now is inside the clear glass.

You can see the clearest the best, but it's all around it.

And then the white, that little piece of white, is now starting to expand into our like actual pumpkin.

So, we're starting to get it bigger.

Alright, so now if you look inside the furnace, you can see all of the elements going around it, and then there's like a big giant bowl in there.

And, that's what we're actually using the hold the glass.

And, so I'm gathering out of that giant bowl and onto my blow pipe, kind of like a big honey dipper, is kind of what it's like.

And, layer it all in.

That's all clear glass.

Well.

- [Narrator] Depending what each piece calls for, blowing is oftentimes a part of the process.

It's kind of like blowing into a piece of bubblegum, with the blown air helping to create the overall shape.

The key to everything, doing it quickly so the glass doesn't start to cool and set.

That's why it's called hot glass, with pieces continuously going back and forth into the fire, sometimes up to 20 times.

- [Guest] But, how hot is it in there?

- It's about 2200 degrees Fahrenheit inside of our reheating chamber, and then the furnace sits at around 2100 degrees.

So these are actually a little bit hotter.

- [Narrator] To make the pumpkin, Jake sticks the piece into a cement mold.

This gives the pumpkin its ridges.

And, those tiny particles that he rolls the piece into, add color and texture.

But, you won't actually see it until later.

- It's a one-time, one-shot deal.

Like, when you start the thing, you can't, can't put it down and be like, oh, I'm hot, I'm tired, I'm gonna take a break.

It's like you and that piece have like formed that bond, and it's not going to be broken until it goes into the oven in one piece.

Hold the tray, please, Eric.

There's all these different little moods and steps and teamwork and communication.

And, it's like, super dangerous.

Like if you're not careful and like, you know, I mean, I got burned real bad, just not too long ago.

And, you know, it's part of it.

- [Narrator] Also part of it, mistakes.

They do happen more often than Jake would like, but it's all part of the job.

- [Jake] Oh my God.

Oh, Lord.

That's not good.

(laughs) - [Guest] It happens.

- Yup.

You get one shot to really get it right, you know, when you're out there making it.

And, uh, it could all go wrong in like two seconds, you know?

(chuckles) - You gotta be pretty fast, especially at certain times.

If something goes wrong and you're not ready for it, piece is over.

You gotta start over.

- [Jake] Cut that part out.

(guest laughing) We'll do it again.

We'll do another one.

- He is a perfectionist, which these guys can tell you, is sometimes difficult to deal with.

- Well, Jake, he can be a kind of an intense person to work with, but he's a great teacher.

- He will take a piece, and if it is not what he expects it to be, he literally will just dump it, you know, and start over.

- [Guest] So, you can salvage the pumpkin, you can just keep that up and get that off, right?

- [Jake] Yeah, it's pretty much done, it's over.

- [Guest] At this point, the pumpkin's like cold enough where we try to reheat it and get it on the pipe again it would crack by the time you get it in there.

- [Jake] There's no, there's no fixing it at that point.

- Because a lot of glass is just failing it.

If you learn from the failure, you can do it better next time.

- [Narrator] With the first attempt at the pumpkin going into the trash heap, like so many others, Jake jumps right back in and starts another one.

- [Jake] And, there's the body of our pumpkin.

So, we got the body of it, and now I'm going to make it look like it's gold, and then we'll bring it over here and we'll break it off, and then that's when I'll put the stem on there.

- [Narrator] Using a wide blowtorch, Jake gets the pumpkin even hotter.

You can now see how those particles that he rolled it into earlier begin to change color around the edges.

And, this time attaching the pumpkin stem goes smoothly.

No mistakes.

The stem then gets wrapped around a piece of metal and curled back around top.

- [Jake] That was a good one.

- Yeah, that was a nice one.

Ah, a nice one- - [Narrator] The blowtorch turns that light orange into more of a burnt orange.

- [Jake] There it is.

- [Narrator] The pumpkin then heads to a cooling furnace set at 900 degrees, where everything will set into place.

- [Jake] It fits in there.

That was a good one.

That was a really good one.

- [Narrator] Hot Glass Alley opened its doors three years ago, but very easily could have been located somewhere else, and not in Charlotte.

- We almost went to Florida, but I was like, it's too hot.

- [Narrator] But, one by one, they started eliminating other options.

- But, we vetted five cities.

Um, we almost moved to Sarasota.

- We almost went there 'cause he had family there and stuff.

It was, it was just unbelievably hot.

I mean, we would have to like shut down the business in the summer.

- It's a retirement community, and everybody's getting rid of stuff, you know, they're not, they're not interested in collecting.

- Savannah, Georgia, they're real quirky people, they're like, why are, why are, why are you here?

I'm like, oh, okay, nevermind.

- We looked in New Jersey.

- So I didn't want to stay in Jersey.

It was just too expensive.

- Uh, we looked at Alexandria, Virginia.

- It was okay.

Wasn't our greatest pick.

- Thought about Louisville.

- They already had like two or three hot shops, and like there was a school there, and that market was already like dominated.

- [Narrator] Jake and Sonya were eventually drawn to Charlotte for two main reasons.

First, - When we came to Charlotte, we found that A, the art community was so vibrant and really so welcoming of us.

- And, it was like this huge city.

It was like the biggest city in the Carolinas.

And, it's got no glass scene here, like at all.

The nearest place is either in Star, North Carolina, which is in the middle of nowhere, like tobacco farming country, you know, or in Asheville, two and a half hours away, which is like the whole day.

- [Narrator] Second, area leaders let it be known they wanted Jake to bring his business here, and rolled out the red carpet.

- What brought us to Charlotte was we, we had a very thorough business plan.

And, anytime we went into one of the cities to vet that city, we met with banks, we met with the fire marshal, we met with real estate people.

We met with the chamber of commerce, um, because we wanted to make sure that the, uh, population was the population we were looking for.

- And, then when we came to Charlotte, like we met with the chamber of commerce.

They're like, it's great to have y'all.

We got this whole thing for you, we're gonna take you around town, and show you all this stuff.

And, we really want you to come here.

And, I was like, done.

Like, you guys are the most hospitable people by far.

- I told Jake that I know he's from up north, but I'm very thankful that they landed here in Charlotte.

- The chamber here, they encouraged us to come.

The bank actually, they just wrapped their arms around us and said, yes, we would love for you to be here.

We will help you make this work.

And they did.