About

I rented a small space in this building over twenty years ago.

Two decades later I asked a friend how the place was doing and he told me a whole floor was sitting empty. That's when I decided to bite off more than I can chew. I took the floor, built out the 19 original studios while raising two kids and working a full-time job, and got them finished before I ran out of money. The first tenant moved in September 2023.

I built this to be workspace for artists, makers of all types, and small businesses.

Pfister & Vogel built this as a tannery in 1890, back when Milwaukee tanned more leather than any city on earth. Cream city brick, timber beams, stone foundation, a smokestack you can see from the river. It was built for people making things and it still is.

They added on in 1894. Later it ran as Lakeside Manufacturing. The Wisconsin Historical Society has it on record as the Pfister and Vogel Bay View Tannery.

Now it's home to some of the best artists and craftspeople in the city.

I'm Colin Matthes. I'm an artist, and I run a university gallery during the day.

I grew up in rural Wisconsin wiring trailer parks and county fairs. I've remodeled a few houses since, and this floor is the biggest thing I've built.

I built the kind of place I'd want to work in. If it sounds like your kind of place, email me.