This month Sequoia Fabrica – featuring a wood and textile workshop, 3D printers and laser cutter, electronics, crafts and fine arts stations – opened at 1736 18th Street. Co-founders Max Omdal, Maggie Frankel and Emeline Brule hope that the makerspace will foster the next generation of designers and craftspeople.
“We’ll have a balance of two ways to get involved. Memberships and workshops,” said Omdal, Sequoia Fabrica president, who was introduced to the maker community as a software engineer while a college student in Minnesota. “Members will have access to high- and low-tech tools to build things for themselves, and those that are interested in contributing to the community can run classes. We plan to host several workshops and events every week, from woodworking 101 to basic arts and crafts projects, sewing and patterning classes, sustainable clothing design, electronics, additive manufacturing and marquetry.”
The idea for makerspaces emerged a couple of decades ago to provide places to digitally prototype technology as a means to foster small-scale manufacturing.
“It’s a broader way of defining making; combining arts and crafts with engineering,” said Brule, Sequoia Fabrica treasurer, a design professor at the University of Sussex, who’s frequented makerspaces in Paris and Brussels over the last decade and plans to teach classes in machine knitting and sewing.
“Makerspaces have traditionally been made for adults and teenagers,” said Frankel, Fabrica’s secretary, who’s a youth services librarian at the Mission Bay branch. “Very few have spaces inclusive of families. At Sequoia Fabrica, parents can bring their kids, do things together and find community here. We will have classes for adults and young people.”
“Few of us are experts at what we’re doing; we’re just passionate about sharing what we’re doing and contributing to the community and our learning process,” Omdal said.
“We care about building things that might not otherwise come to be, so that includes a focus on restoration, repair, working with scrap materials, and sustainability. We want to foster a community that knows how to care and make things for each other,” said Frankel.
After Sequoia Fabrica incorporated as a nonprofit last fall it hosted events at a community gallery, Wave Collective, in lower Haight. SF Made, a not-for-profit organization that works with small manufacturers, helped find the Hill space late last year.
The name “Sequoia” was chosen because of the founders’ love for the iconic California sequoia tree, and its association with longevity and growth; “fabrica” is Latin, meaning factory or workshop. The initials are “SF.”
According to Frankel, Potrero Hill is an ideal location.
“As a neighborhood, it’s an interesting mix of design and creativity, and there’s a broad swath of communities and families. It’s a great match for what we want to do,” she said. “We’re at the ‘getting our feet off the ground’ stage. We hope to get some grant funding so we can do things like offer more affordable membership models, free youth programming, and summer internships for middle and high schoolers.”
Base membership is $150 a month; for an additional $50 monthly a sponsor affiliation helps provide scholarships for those who can’t afford classes or full membership dues. A discounted membership is available on a sliding scale of $100 to $149 a month for those unable to afford full dues. Members have access to tools, equipment, workspace, and a collaborative community dedicated to sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas.
An open house will be held March 9, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with button-making, crafts, and tours. Check https://sequoiafabrica.org/ for upcoming classes and workshops.
Tamala Motta 
Danny Pham 
Alina Ferguson