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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!