Maker's Mark

San Francisco philanthropist Ann Hatch has long dedicated herself to the making of artful objects.
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In the 1980s she founded the Capp Street Project, an arts residency in a Mission district home; in 1997 she cofounded the Oxbow School, an arts program for high school students, in Napa, California. But her most recent project may be her most inclusive. For the Workshop Residence, launched in August 2011, Hatch invites a single designer, artisan, or maker to reside for one to two months in an apartment in an 1860s Victorian building in the industrial Dogpatch neighborhood. During that time, the resident is expected to create and produce limited editions of useful, affordable design objects, which Hatch sells downstairs in the Workshop’s studio-store. Each resident is provided with a production budget and honorarium to make what they like, and program director Braden Weeks Earp corrals Bay Area fabricators to manufacture their work. "Designers and artisans get the chance to try something new," Hatch says, while local manufacturers get the opportunity to make unusual, artful objects.

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Zahid Sardar
Zahid Sardar is an author specializing in architecture, interiors, and design. He currently writes the Material World column for the San Francisco Chronicle.

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