At Case for Making We Believe Everybody is Creative.

Case for Making was founded by Alexis Joseph and Lana Porcello in 2014 and is named for a project that took place in the same building years before that they completed with close friends. Shortly after opening, Alexis took over Case for Making on her own and kept it going for three years while she held another full time job, which she would never have been able to do without the help of Shaine Drake who joined in 2015. In 2017, the business had enough momentum to support Alexis full time, and that’s when our own product line really took off. We started out as a small, curated selection of art supplies, and we’re proud that we’re now known primarily for our own products! There’s nothing Alexis loves more than ideas, collaborations, encouraging others to be creative and talking about color with her team! 

Shaine was the second person we ever hired and has been our right-hand person ever since. She's watched us go from a young, baby shop, to a teenage watercolor brand, to who we are today, overseeing all aspects of the biz with her careful attention to detail and eye for perfection. Shaine is a master marbler and has been teaching workshops for years with us here and around the Bay Area. We're lucky to have her on this new venture as well so make sure to join Shaine for a class soon!

Riley joined us at the end of 2020 when we reopened the shop and now helps manage our online store. She is equally capable of making beautiful spreadsheets and crafting adventurous classes, and she has been doing so much behind-the-scenes work to get our new site not only up and running, but also looking beautiful!

Rawley joined the team to help build our online workshop community! Their thoughtful cover letter was the missing piece of inspiration necessary to help bring our vision for this online space to fruition. After meeting a few times, we felt like it was meant to be and were eager to begin working together. Rawley brings enthusiasm for community-building through art-making, and we can't wait to continue to learn from them as a coworker and as a session instructor!

Melanie joined us the summer of 2020, and it felt like fate when we first met on Facetime. She was instantly part of the CfM family and worked with us in the back office before moving to New York where she now heads up Friends sessions with Rawley! Melanie is an artist with a background in painting and somatic psychology. She is interested in the intersection of wellness, mental health, and the artistic process, working primarily in watercolor and ink. Melanie has been an art educator for years, and her classes range from covering the basics of brush handling or color theory, to playful landcapes or painting auras!

Rachel is the newest member of our team and we're so excited to learn more about her! So far we know that she is an incredible artist, is very fun and easy to chat with and is newly obsessed with fluorescent colors thanks to our paints!

Gina has been with us since 2016 and has worn many hats, including overseeing all of our letterpress paper goods and managing the shop at our sister location, the Aesthetic Union. We've been trying to convince Gina to teach workshops ever since their first day when we found out they were into mending clothes. Gina paints both digitally and traditionally, and loves our Buff Titanium watercolor with a passion. Gina's classes are always peppered with super fun facts!

Orlie is an amazing artist, designer, printmaker and human! We're so lucky that we get to make paint with Orlie a few days a week and see which People Names she gives our pigment colors. Orlie teaches a super fun stamp carving class called Block Party!

Yina can pretty much make anything. We first met Yina back in 2014 when Case for Making first opened and we got a huge business crush on her and her partner's store, Odsy Workshop. Flash forward a few years when a CfM paintmaker and friend told Yina they were making paint with us and Yina said, "I want to do that, too!" So Yina started coming in to make paint during the hours she wasn't running her business and working on the myriad projects she always has going on, and thank goodness she did!

Ambika has been part of the CfM family for many years and continues to be an anchor to us all. Alongside her work as a video producer, Ambika makes paint at home and sends us incredible photographs of all the colors lined up in her workspace. Her favorite colors to make are any in the Ultramarine family.

Janice has been with us since she took a watercolor paint making workshop with Alexis many years ago. Soon after, she joined us officially at the back table to make paints, always keeping us laughing. We're all completely in awe of her beautiful paintings, illustrations and handwriting, and her classes are all imbued with her overall impeccable style!

Evan came to us by way of MJ. Sometimes you meet someone and because they're so amazing we know that anyone they introduce us to is most definitely amazing, too! Evan has been making paint with us first at the shop pre-pandemic, then at home and now they make paint both at home and back with us at the shop. A day when Evan is in is always a good day!

MJ used to be our favorite barista in SF before she applied to come and work with us! First taking shifts in the shop, MJ quickly became a meticulous paint maker and frequently joined us at our back table during her free time from other jobs and school. We've been lucky enough to know MJ for years and wish her all the best as she heads to Sacramento to finish up undergrad, where she'll still be making paint for us between remote lectures and ceramics projects. We're so excited to see what she makes and shares with us here!

Claudia initially joined the CfM family by teaching Make With Friends guest sessions, where we fell in love with her bold graphic style and laid-back vibe! We always loved seeing her when she came in for art supplies, and she eventually picked up two days a week to work at the shop!

Julie and Alexis met each other in Architecture school back in 2002. In their shared studio class, they were assigned desks that faced each other. Julie and Alexis are frequent collaborators and produce a line of ceramic cups and mixing palettes that remain a forever CfM favorite. Julie is an artist and ceramicist, and she has an incredible ability to move fluidly move between art, architecture, ceramics and design with a quiet intentionality that shows how thoughtful and beautiful her process is, no matter the medium.

Claire's paintings and energy exude a playful warmth, and that's just how she is in person as well! We first met Claire on Instagram when she picked back up with watercolor painting and her work has been brilliant to watch explode in pattern, color and joy!

Anjelika first began inspiring us with her beautiful and methodical paintings we kept seeing on instagram! She then became a friend and familiar face during our CfM Friends classes and always added such thoughtful contributions to each session she joined, so we asked her to teach a session of her own!

Sophie and Alexis met at West Coast Craft many years ago and bonded over tiny travel brushes and Payne's Grey. We've been following Sophie's work ever since and celebrated her when she quit her day job to pursue her art full time! Sophie's work is meticulously beautiful, and her teaching style is open and fluid. We're so happy she's sharing her practice with us here!

Dave has been a friend and an inspiration to our shop since before we even existed. He is a staple in the Outer Sunset neighborhood as an artist and fellow business owner. Dave has a way of making art that is both incredibly free, yet very detailed and precise—which creates a beautiful balance especially while working with watercolor. Dave shares our studio space, and we always love to see what he is working on. We’re always so excited to learn from him!