At Case for Making We Believe Everybody is Creative.
Visit Our Shop!
4037 Judah Street in San Francisco
Open Daily from 11am-6pm
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We make our own watercolors and letterpress watercolor paper goods, all made in-house, presented alongside a curated selection of our favorite creative supplies.
some of us!
OUR TEAM
Our team is composed of deeply kind and wonderful humans and has grown organically over the years. Most of us wear many hats as, after all, this is a small biz! Each of us have our own creative endeavors that we work on outside of the shop which makes its way into daily conversation around the paint table. There are some moments when we're all working quietly and others where there are many bodies gathered around a new batch of paint all chattering in excitement about the progress of getting a new color just right.
Alexis Joseph
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!
CFM: If you had three tips to give someone who is just starting out with watercolor what would they be?
CFM: What is one piece of creative advice you've received that's always stuck with you?
CFM: Favorite CfM colors to mix together, maybe some unexpected combos?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Alexis's PICKS:
Shaine Drake
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!
CFM: What is one piece of creative advice you've received that's always stuck with you?
CFM: Favorite CfM colors to mix together, maybe some unexpected combos?
CFM: What do you do with work you don't like?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Shaine's PICKS:
Melanie Lan
Melanie joined our team in 2020 and brought so much sparkle and magic with her. If you've gotten to take a workshop with her you know what we mean! Melanie has since moved to NYC so we created a remote position so that she could stay working with us. Melanie is our Make with Friends workshop director, writes the weekly Friends newsletter, and she hosted our first ever Brooklyn Popup event —we're excited to do more events on the East Coast in the future because of her!
Melanie earned her MFA in painting at the Burren College of Art in Ireland, and has an interdisciplinary background in painting, cross-cultural studies, and somatic psychology. Her work explores the intersection of healing, meaning-making, and the natural world. In her free time Melanie is a selenophile who loves tide pools, stargazing, big trees, and long walks with good snacks.
CFM: If you had three tips to give someone who is just starting out with watercolor what would they be?
CFM: What is one piece of creative advice you've received that's always stuck with you?
CFM: If you could go anywhere tomorrow where would you go and what supplies would you bring with you?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Melanie's PICKS:
MJ Tantingco
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!
CFM: What is one piece of creative advice you've received that's always stuck with you?
CFM: Is there something that has felt surprising or exciting to you about your practice lately?
CFM: What do you do with work you don't like?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
MJ's PICKS:
Rachel Cummings
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!
CFM: What is your favorite paper to work with and why?
CFM: Is there something that has felt surprising or exciting to you about your practice lately?
CFM: When do you feel the most creative? Or what do you need before you sit down to make?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Rachel's PICKS:
Orlie Kapitulnik
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!
CFM: What is one piece of creative advice you've received that's always stuck with you?
CFM: What do you do with work you don't like?
CFM: Do you have any fave food or bevvies next to you while you're creating?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Orlie's PICKS:
Yina Kim
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!
CFM: If you could go anywhere tomorrow where would you go and what supplies would you bring with you?
CFM: Favorite CfM colors to mix together, maybe some unexpected combos?
CFM: Is there something that has felt surprising or exciting to you about your practice lately?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Yina's PICKS:
Ambika Jain
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.
CFM: What's on your desk right now, be honest!?
CFM: What do you do with work you don't like?
CFM: When do you feel the most creative? Or what do you need before you sit down to make?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Ambika's PICKS:
Gina Hendry
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!
CFM: If you had three tips to give someone who is just starting out with watercolor what would they be?
CFM: What is one piece of creative advice you've received that's always stuck with you?
CFM: Favorite CfM colors to mix together, maybe some unexpected combos?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Gina's PICKS:
OUR TEAM
CFM: Where's your favorite place to get a team lunch?
CFM: What is your favorite thing that happens throughout the day?
CFM: Favorite thing to do together!
Our Friends & Instructors
Julie Cloutier
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.
CFM: Favorite CfM colors to mix together, maybe some unexpected combos?
CFM: What's on your desk right now, be honest!?
CFM: What is your favorite paper to work with and why?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Julie's PICKS:
Claire Wilson
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!
CFM: What was the most delightful moment you remember from a session you've taught?
CFM: When do you feel the most creative? Or what do you need before you sit down to make?
CFM: What does a successful creative session look or feel like to you?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Claire's PICKS:
Dave Muller
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!
CFM: When do you feel the most creative? Or what do you need before you sit down to make?
CFM: If you were a brush, what brush would you be? Or if you were an art supply which art supply would you be? And why?
CFM: Favorite CfM colors to mix together, maybe some unexpected combos?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Dave's PICKS:
Sophie Tivona
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!
CFM: What's the most recent supply you've gotten that you're really into or feels like a game-changer?
CFM: If you were a brush, what brush would you be? Or if you were an art supply which art supply would you be? And why?
CFM: What does a successful creative session look or feel like to you?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Sophie's PICKS:
Anjelika Deogirikar Grossman
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!
CFM: If you were a brush, what brush would you be? Or if you were an art supply which art supply would you be? And why?
CFM: If you had three tips to give someone who is just starting out with watercolor what would they be?
CFM: What is one piece of creative advice you've received that's always stuck with you?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Anjelika's PICKS:
Claire Nereim
Claire and Alexis met back in 2007 thanks to Julie Cloutier. Claire was working at California College of the Arts and Alexis was just about to start grad school there. Through the years they kept in touch, met for studio visits and cheered each other on. Alexis always admired Claire for her attention to detail, the extreme precision and care she puts into everything she does, and always her color palette selections! Claire brings all this care, detail and color into all the classes she teaches with us!
CFM: What's on your desk right now, be honest!?
CFM: When do you feel the most creative? Or what do you need before you sit down to make?
CFM: If you had three tips to give someone who is just starting out with watercolor what would they be?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Claire's PICKS:
Abbey Cahill
CFM: What is one piece of creative advice you've received that's always stuck with you?
CFM: Favorite CfM colors to mix together, maybe some unexpected combos?
CFM: When do you feel the most creative? Or what do you need before you sit down to make?
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
Abbey's PICKS:
Our Mission
Case of Making exists to support our collective creativity. We believe in the act of engaging in an artistic practice for the health of ourselves and the health of our communities. We know that creativity and creative problem solving is the way forward and we trust this process. This is true in art and in life.
We believe in the creative power of all humans, and that to be creative and be truly ourselves we need to be free and safe. This is not the reality for many marginalized communities and we strive to make Case for Making a safe space for all people. We are here to learn from each other, to share stories, to engage in a creative process, to build each other up as we discover ourselves and to value this practice. We want to take this opportunity to re-state our commitment to being an anti-racist company. Black Lives Matter. Asian Lives Matter. Trans Lives Matter.
Thank you all for feeding back to us the community that we want to be a part of. We continue to build this together-actively creating a world which reflects our collective ideas and values. Case for Making is all of us and includes everyone who believes in the power of creativity and self expression and sees and values and will fight for every unique voice and story and history.
Listen to yourself, be yourself, and make something that only you can make and choose every day to share that with the world.